Warm My Heart
by Anabelle Blake
Summary: Fairy Tail has recently gotten yet another new member, but she doesn't practice magic anymore, and she won't reveal why. Maybe Gray can cool her down enough to get her to open up? GrayXOC. Maybe OOC, rated M for language and future content. THIRD INSTALLMENT OF MY FAIRY TAIL HEARTS SERIES! Please read Dragon's Heart, and Key to My Heart before starting this story!
1. Meeting Her

**HELLO MY LOVELIES! IT'S BEEN A BIT SINCE I'VE SEEN YOU, I'M SOOOOOOO HAPPY TO BE BACK! AND WITH A NEW STORY AT THAT!**

**I hope you enjoy, I hope you like the title, and I hope you like the pairing!**

**NOTE NOTE NOTE PAY ATTENTION TO ME PLEASE! Okay so this story starts out during chapter eleven of Key to My Heart. You'll figure it out if you've read it and if not you'll be a little confused but I'll try to keep references from that story to a minimum. Also I don't know how long these chapters are gonna be so don't flame me if they're too short or too long. I have no word limit on this story.**

**NO SET UPDATING SCHEDULE! And the reason for that is because it is my Senior year in high school, and I REALLY need to focus on my studies. I'll be writing whenever I have free time but I hope you can understand if I don't update too often.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable so… Basically I'm just f*cking around here.**

**Enjoy~**

**A.~**

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><p><span>Warm My Heart<span>

Gray chuckled at his pun and Kaia giggled with him.

"Nice one." She smiled and high fived him.

"Thanks." He nodded. "Well, I'm gonna go get some food cause I'm getting kinda hungry. You want anything?" He asked.

"Just tell Mira I'll have my usual, thanks Gray." She smiled as he headed back to the bar. The rest of the group sat down as he went to order.

"Hey Mira, can Kaia and I get our usuals?" He called from the bar.

"Sure, Gray! I'll have them out to you soon, just put on your clothes, kay?" She smiled as she tried to contain the swarm of people ordering food and drinks. With a curse Gray went to go collect his clothes, and then went back to the table everyone was at to wait for his food.

"So what's everyone talking about?" Gray asked, plopping down as he buttoned his shirt back up.

"The baby is kicking Kaia." Lucy smiled.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yeah, come here and feel." Kaia encouraged him.

"Nah, it's okay." He shrugged. But he had a weird look on his face. Kaia smirked knowingly.

"Ya know…. If you didn't break up with Juvia then maybe you would be starting a family right now." She shrugged. He gave her a dark look for mentioning that.

"No." Was his firm retort, not wanting to discuss anything having to do with the rain woman.

"Ya know, I heard she finally said yes to Lyon a month ago." Lucy speculated.

"Good for her." He muttered.

"Yeah, I heard the same thing. They've been dating for about five months now huh? No wonder she's not at the guild much, must be wedding preparations." Kaia added in. Gray tried to tune it out now, and ended up gripping the edge of the table tightly.

"Enough for now, girls." Erza said, looking pointedly at them and glancing at Gray. Both Lucy and Kaia looked over to see the irritated ice mage and the conversation dissolved quickly. No one exactly knew what happened in Gray and Juvia's relationship, what made it end, but they all knew it didn't end on good terms. Magnolia had been flooded and freezing cold for over a month when they broke up, and when one of the mages was in the guild the other was nowhere to be found. Now, even though they could both be in the guild at the same time, things were still tense between the two. Juvia had started dating Lyon two months after the break up and now they were engaged. It seemed to aggravate Gray.

"So….. Does anyone want to go on a mission?" Lucy asked after a minute. "I'm almost out of money from our last one so I need some money for rent."

"I'll go." Erza nodded.

"Me too." Gray said.

"Kaia and I will go was well, as long as there's a monster to fight!" Natsu smirked.

"Uh, 'Kaia' will not be going, Natsu." Kaia scoffed lightly.

"What why not?"

"Pregnant, remember?" She rolled her eyes when his went down to her big belly.

"Oh, right. Never mind, we're not going." He said quickly.

"No, you should go." The bluenette corrected quickly. "We could use the extra money."

"We've got plenty saved up."

"We're eating through that pretty quickly, literally Natsu." She giggled. "Plus extra money would never hurt, for just in case situations." She shrugged.

"Right." He nodded.

"Okay, well, I'll go pick a mission that's got a high reward for you guys." Lucy smiled. She got up and went up to the second floor. Gray chatted with Erza and Kaia for a bit, and Natsu butt in when he wanted to annoy the raven haired man but their conversation quickly ended when Lucy came back down and slapped a flyer on the table.

"So what'd you find?" Gray asked, leaning forward to look at the flyer. "River monster attacking a village. Get rid of it and we'll pay four million jewel." His brows shot up into his hairline. "Dang, that's a lot of money for a river monster. Must be really tough." He muttered.

"Yeah, but we're all S-Class now, and it pays four million—assuming Natsu doesn't destroy anything," she gave him a pointed glare and the rose haired man shrunk down behind Kaia's shoulder," so it will split nicely. Wendy's out with Romeo on a mission—"

"Again? Man those two are inseparable." Kaia giggled. Lucy nodded with a smile.

"I swear they're going to get married one day." The blonde giggled. "Anyways, back to the mission. What do you guys say?" She looked at Gray first. He shrugged.

"Sure, I don't mind." He chuckled. They both looked over to Erza who nodded.

"I'm okay with it." She agreed. The three then turned to Natsu. He smirked.

"I'm getting fired up, fighting a river monster sounds awesome!" He said excitedly. Kaia rolled her eyes and smiled affectionately at her husband. Lucy nodded and, with everyone's agreement, she went to go tell Mira they would take it. Mira told her that they could head out the day after next. With that information Lucy went back to the table, relayed it to the team, and then they began talking and speculating about the mission and the plans to possibly take down the monster.

"Hey Lucy, do you think that you could call Loke back here, see if he knows where Tessa went. My back is starting to give me problems again, and I was hoping she'd be able to help me again." Kaia said when the conversation hit a lull. Lucy nodded.

"Yeah sure thing." She smiled and got up, grabbing up the spirit's key. "Open! Gate of the lion, Leo!" She called as she made the cross motion in the air with the key. Gray looked away disinterested as she waited for Loke to show up, and saw an arm with bandages wrapped around it set a glass of iced tea down in front of him quickly. He frowned.

"Mira what-" He stopped when he looked up and realized it wasn't Mira serving their food. This girl was obviously younger, with hair the color of sakura petals, and big chocolate brown eyes. Her skin was pale, her neck was covered by a green scarf, and a shirt that exposed one arm while covering the other, and showed off a slanted half of her side and stomach. His brows rose when he saw the arm that wasn't covered by a sleeve. Starting at her wrist, bandages wrapped up her arm and covered her shoulder, and he wondered how much it continued under her shirt.

"Who're you?" Natsu blurted. There was a muted smacking sound as Kaia hit him and then his protest followed by her hushed whisper about the fact that it was rude to blurt out questions like that. The girl smiled and her brown eyes twinkled lightly with amusement as she looked at the couple.

"It was rude the way Natsu asked, but I'm curious as well. Who might you be?" Erza wondered. The pinkette giggled lightly and shook her head.

"I wasn't offended, don't worry. Much more polite than some of the other members. My name is Serafina Lee. Mira and Kinana needed help, what with all the new members showing up so I answered the flyers they had posted throughout town. I'm the new member and waitress." She smiled.

"You're a member now?" Loke asked, finally appearing, or maybe it was for the second time since he regretfully told Kaia that he couldn't find Tessa. Gray noted that he looked slightly rumpled for once.

"Yes." She nodded, not losing her bright smile as she finished passing out the food to Gray and Kaia.

"So that means you're a magic user. What kind of magic do you use?" The blonde wondered. Instantly the smile was gone as Serafina's expression darkened.

"I'd rather not discuss it. Yes I used to be a magic user, I don't practice that anymore. I hope you both enjoy your food, I'll see you around the guild." With that short reply she took her tray and left rather quickly, and Gray noticed that she was rubbing her hand up and down her wrapped arm.

"Well, that was interesting. I have to go, oh and by the way Lucy, before I forget." He smirked and swatted her butt lightly.

"What did you do that for!?" She exclaimed, putting her hands over her behind protectively, as if afraid he'd do it again. He chuckled.

"Tessa told me to." He shrugged.

"But I thought you said you couldn't find her." Kaia was quick, and she smirked at him. He spluttered, trying to come up with a response and she laughed. "You found her, she just wasn't decent was she?" She smirked. The spirit didn't reply.

"Oh my god, are you actually _blushing_?" Lucy exclaimed.

"No, it's hot in here!" Loke said quickly. "I have to go, bye!" He said before vanishing. Kaia burst into laughter.

"He was totally with Tessa." The bluenette smirked. Lucy nodded and they both giggled. "But dang it, now I'm stuck with an aching back." Kaia pouted.

"I'm sorry." Lucy frowned.

"You know, you've got Natsu, why not just have him give you a warm massage?" Gray asked. Kaia snorted.

"He does it too rough. It's wonderful for my feet though." She said, tacking on the end part as a way to comfort the pouting Slayer.

"Well there's gotta be something that could help." Natsu mumbled.

"Yes, getting this baby out of me would help." She teased. "Anyways, I'm hungry so I'm gonna eat." She said, turning to her food. Natsu tried to steal a piece of bacon from her plate and quicker than lightning Kaia's hand shot out and smacked his away. "Mine." Was the only thing she said before digging in to her meal. Gray stifled a laugh at Natsu's hurt expression, Natsu caught it, and a fight naturally broke out, turning into a guild wide brawl eventually that lasted the rest of the day and into the evening.

O~O~O~O

"Seeya tomorrow Gray!" Lucy called as he headed out. He waved, made sure he had all his clothes and then left the guild hall, heading down the street to his apartment.

"Please, if you would just give me a chance, I-"

"I'm sorry, but I don't allow fire mages in my complex. Good luck finding anyone here that does."

"Okay….. Thank you for your time." Gray paused when he turned the corner and saw a flash of sakura pink and emerald green pass him. He turned and sure enough it was the girl from the guild, Serafina.

"Poor girl. That's gonna be tough." The ice mage turned to the man beside him. "She was a pretty little thing, I would have loved to see her brighten up the place but….. Well, fire mages are iffy."

"What?"

"Yeah, it's gonna be tough for her to find a place that'll rent to a fire mage." He nodded.

Gray frowned. One, why was this dude randomly talking to him? And two, Serafina was a fire mage?

Without realizing it he started walking, and then jogging, going in the direction she had gone. He could still see her pink head in the midst of a sudden crowd of people, and he did his best to follow after her, not even knowing why. He was curious though, questions swam through his mind. Why didn't she want to talk about her magic, did something happen, if so what?

The pinkette turned a corner into an alley and Gray frowned, knowing it was a dead end with nothing in it. He waited, but she didn't come back out. Confused he walked over and looked into the alley. She was sitting, leaning against a wall with her head tucked into her knees which were pulled up to her chest.

"Serafina?" She tensed and her head shot up. Startled brown eyes met confused dark blue, and then she was up on her feet.

"Oh, Gray! What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I could ask you the same thing, why are you in an alleyway this late at night?" He asked.

"Ah-I-uh-….. Well-…" She stammered, trying to come up with a response. "I'm new in town ya know, and all the money I'm earning from waitressing at FairyTail is going towards renting a place but I don't have enough for a house, and well…. I can't exactly find an apartment because-" She broke off quickly and looked away.

"No one here will rent to a fire mage." Gray finished. Her eyes shot back to his and narrowed.

"How did you know?" He was surprised at how fast she could go from sweetly flustered to hostile.

"I'm sorry, I saw you talking to a landlord back there and then he started talking to me. But anyways, that still doesn't explain why you're in an alley."

"I have nowhere else to go, Gray. I can't find an apartment complex that'll take me, I don't have enough money to get a house, and I can't waste all my money on a hotel because I'm trying to save up." She mumbled, rubbing her hand up and down her arm self-consciously.

"So you're sleeping in an alley?" He looked appalled and she glared at him.

"Beats wasting my money on a hotel." She snapped. "No one bugs me, and if some dude happens to come over and try something I'll roast his ass."

"But I thought you said you don't practice magic anymore?"

"I don't but that doesn't mean I don't know how." She pointed out.

"Right. But…. Still…" He looked around. Serafina glared at him and for a moment he thought he saw a flash of red in her eyes and fire behind her irises. But it was gone so fast that he was sure he just imagined it.

"Still what?" She asked tensely. He shook his head quickly.

"Uh….. Don't take this the wrong way, but…. I can't leave you out here, there's supposed to be a storm later tonight, and it'll be cold and raining—possibly snowing. Look, why don't you come with me, you can crash at my place tonight and we can figure something out in the morning." He offered. She blinked in surprise.

"What?"

"I'm not trying to do anything weird, okay? But c'mon, I can't let you sleep in an alley." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"You're gonna let me stay with you?"

"Well, for tonight yeah, until we can figure something else out." He shrugged.

"You're not scared that I'm gonna burn your place down?"

"Should I be?" He asked. She hesitated, looked away, and then crossed her arms over her chest. "Well?" He asked when they just stood in silence for nearly a minute.

"I-I'm not entirely certain. I can't always control it." She mumbled.

"What do you mean?"

"I have nightmares, and sometimes…. I lose control." She admitted. Gray processed the information and nodded slowly.

"Well, then it's a good thing I'm an ice mage. I can put it out, and I'm used to some heat because of Natsu." He shrugged. Her eyes shot to his.

"Wait, what?"

"I don't care. I can put a fire out, so it's fine." He shrugged again.

"S-seriously?" He nodded. "Th-thank you." She mumbled in disbelief.

"Right…. Uh, well let's go." He said. She nodded and followed him out of the alley.

She was unprepared for how fast he walked and ended up falling behind a little bit. She was about to start jogging to catch up when someone took hold of her bandaged arm, making her wince.

"Hey pretty girl, where you going in such a hurry?" A man slurred as she turned her head to look at him.

"Let me go please." She said politely.

"Aww, don't be rude, I just wanna talk to ya, see I don't see many girls like you around here this late." He said, swaying towards her a little. She tried to move back but her arm was still caught in his grip, and he held tighter to her as he steadied himself, Serafina winced again as his fingers dug into the bandages.

"We can talk, but you're hurting me, please let me go." She asked again, glancing to the side quickly to find Gray had continued walking without noticing.

"But if I let you go, how do I know that you won't just flutter away like a cute little butterfly?" He asked, tightening his grip further. She gasped in pain and tried to pry his hand off.

"Stop it, that hurts jackass!" She snapped suddenly, her polite demeanor gone and replaced with anger.

"Ooo, this little butterfly can sting like a bee?" He smirked, and she glared at him. She opened her mouth to speak—or spit fire, whichever came out first—but someone beat her to it.

"There you are, I've been looking for you baby girl. Is this guy bothering you?" A chilled arm rested lightly over her shoulders and the drunken man's hand fell away quickly when he saw the raven haired man beside the pinkette. Serafina looked up and blushed when he leaned down and kissed the corner of her mouth.

"A little, but I could have handled it." She pouted. Gray chuckled and glanced down at her.

"I have no doubt that you could, but what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't step up to defend my girl?" Her blush deepened and she glanced away. He turned back to the drunkard and glared icily at him. "Anyhow, _you_ smell worse than Cana, and that's saying something. I think you should go home and sleep it off before you do something you regret. Some guys aren't exactly forgiving when another man grabs their girlfriend. I'm willing to be generous considering how wasted you are, but if she gets bruises, I'll be looking for you." He said darkly. "You got that?" The other man gulped and nodded.

"S-sorry man, I didn't know she was with someone." He muttered.

"Well, maybe next time you should ask before you manhandle someone, asshole." Serafina snapped. He looked at her, saw the gleam of red in her eyes and then scrambled back quickly.

"I would go home if I were you, I can only keep her calm for so long." Gray warned. The man looked at Serafina again, and she narrowed her eyes, smirked in a way that bared sharp shark-like teeth, and then jerked her head forward to snap her jaws at him. He screamed and scrambled back before turning, stumbling, then running down the street. Serafina, satisfied with how she'd terrorized him smirked again and smoothed her tongue over her teeth, making them human-like again before turning to Gray and rubbing her throbbing arm.

"Oh my god, the way he screamed!" She laughed, and Gray chuckled with her until he noticed something at about the level of her shoulder. She looked down and pulled her hand away to see the patch of dark red seeping into the white fabric.

"You're bleeding." Gray said in concern. She quickly put her hand back over it before he could touch it.

"I'll be fine." She winced and gulped as she grabbed at her arm.

"Did he really grab you that hard?"

"No, it's not from him, well it is, but it's not. Don't worry about it, okay?" She said quickly.

"But-"

"Seriously I'll be fine. It's not even bleeding anymore okay?" She said to reassure him. The stain wasn't getting any bigger so he was inclined to believe her, but still…..

"We can patch you up when we get to my apartment." He promised. She nodded and he put his arm around her shoulders lightly, making her blush and look up at him in confusion. "Maybe if we make it look like we're together people won't approach you anymore." He shrugged. She giggled and decided to play along with it.

"Alright then." She shrugged, leaning into his side slightly. Gray was surprised at how warm she was, considering it was February and still freezing cold. But then again, she was a fire mage, he reminded himself. And a tiny one at that as well, he hadn't realized until then how petite she was.

"He sure was scared of you." He chuckled. "I wonder why, you're so tiny." She tensed for a second and then pouted up at him.

"I can be scary." She grumbled. He chuckled.

"Somehow, I don't doubt that actually." He smiled. "I mean…. If bunny rabbits can be scary." She pursed her lips to stop a smile and elbowed him lightly.

"Jerk." She giggled. He smirked and stopped in front of a building.

Serafina looked up at it and was surprised how big it was.

"Just a warning, the outside makes it look bigger, but my apartment is pretty small." He warned her.

"No matter what, you think I'm gonna complain?" She teased. He shrugged.

"You never know, you could change your mind." He chuckled.

"Hmm…. Take up a very generous offer of shelter for a night when it's supposed to rain, which with how cold it is will most likely turn to snow, or I could sleep out in an alley and probably freeze to death." She teased. "I think I'll take my chances with a pretty small apartment, that may or may not be messy." He chuckled at that and shrugged.

"Okay then. You had fair warning." He led her up the stairs and inside the complex, going over to the elevator. They went up to the third floor and Gray paused in front of a door. "Would you do me a favor, and count to a thousand before you come inside?" He asked quickly. She rose a brow at that and a small smirk tugged at the corners of her lips.

"Did I bring up a memory with my 'may or may not be messy' comment?" She asked.

"Maybe." He muttered. She laughed and then walked over to lean against the wall.

"One." She counted, slowly. Gray watched as her lips formed the words and her tongue flicked from the top of her mouth to the bottom on the 'n'. "Two." He snapped out of it and quickly unlocked the door before going inside, leaving it cracked so he could hear her counting. "Three." She called. He cleaned up the kitchen a bit, throwing some stray cans of soda into the trash bin and sweeping some crumbs off the countertops. "Four." He moved on to the living room and picked up stray clothes that he tended to strip out of when he was home and not bother picking up. "Five." He straightened up the table, put things back in their places, threw away more trash and hid a couple magazines that definitely weren't appropriate. "Ten." Was it his imagination or did she skip ahead? "Twenty." She was skipping ahead! He tried to clean up faster. "Thirty." This was said on what sounded like a yawn. He moved on to the bedroom, found nothing too bad, he just put some more dirty clothes in the hamper and actually made up the sheets. "Forty." He turned on the light in the bathroom and cringed. The place really was a mess. "Fifty." He quickly scrubbed down the toothpaste from the sink, put everything away, crammed in drawers or cabinets, got out the first aid kit when he remembered her arm, and then looked into the shower. Straightening that stuff up as well. "One hundred." Great now she was skipping ahead even more! No fair! He looked at the toilet bowl and thankfully it wasn't bad. He did give it a real quick clean though. "Two hundred." Her voice sounded closer, was she in the apartment now? "Three hundred. Four hundred. Five hundred." And she was counting faster as she got closer. Gray turned off the light and went back into the bedroom, to find her seated on the edge, arms back and legs crossed delicately as she smiled at him. "A thousand." She stated. He chuckled and leaned against the door-frame casually.

"You look at ease." He smiled.

"Were you just cleaning the bathroom. Like, _clean_ cleaning?" She asked.

"Pfft, no." He muttered.

"Really? Cause it smells faintly of ammonia." She smiled after sniffing the air. He frowned, sniffed, but couldn't smell anything.

"I can't smell anything. You sure your nose is reliable?"

"Of course, I've got the nose of a—" She stopped midsentence. "Uh, never mind." She muttered, looking away from him when his expression showed his curiosity. She sat up more fully and her hand went to her arm as she frowned.

"Is it hurting?" He asked, and she just then seemed to notice her actions.

"Oh, n-"

"Let me get my first aid kit and then we can patch you back up." He said gently. She shook her head.

"I can do it. I don't need any help there." She said, getting up.

"But—"

"Don't worry, I can do it." She promised, moving passed him into the bathroom. He turned around and she closed the door in his face with a brief smile for reassurance. Gray sighed and shook his head.

"If you need any help just ask." He called.

"Okay, thanks." With that he went to go grab some extra sheets and make up the couch to sleep.

For Serafina, the second the door was closed she'd leaned against it and sighed silently. Then she listened as his footsteps carried him from the door before she engaged the lock on the handle and moved over to the mirror. She took off her shirt, and stared for a moment with a mix of hatred and pain on her face as she looked at the bandages that covered her right arm, wrist to shoulder, and then wrapped diagonally down her right side, continuing underneath her pants all the way to her knee. She got into the kit, pulled out the scissors, and cut the bandages on her torso and arm in half. When they fell away she was left staring at four long gashes going down her arm and side. She grit her teeth and looked away from the mirror, dropping her head to stare at the freshly cleaned sink as she gripped the sides of the counter.

"Damn you, Feira." She hissed quietly. "Damn you for doing this to me." She snarled, glaring back up at her reflection. Her eyes blazed red with a fire burning behind her irises. Her arm, side and leg all burned like fire had been poured into her veins and the gashes glowed a faint blue. She pulled in a ragged breath to calm herself and when she blinked her eyes were back to their normal chocolate brown color, and claw marks looked like plain scabbed gashes. She cleaned up the blood smeared on her upper arm and then redressed the wounds meticulously. Once she was sure that they were completely covered she put her shirt back on and wrapped her scarf back around her neck, because his apartment was damn cold. "Hopefully the cold will help keep the nightmares away." She told her reflection before cleaning up the kit, throwing away the dirtied bandages, and putting the kit back where she'd found it. She opened the door as she turned off the light and found Gray waiting in the bedroom.

"Okay, so you can have the bed. I assume you don't have any pajamas so you can use a t-shirt of mine and I had some sweat pants from when I was younger that might fit you." He offered.

"Where would you sleep?"

"On the couch of course." He shrugged. Serafina shook her head.

"Oh no, no way. I can't make you sleep on the couch." She said quickly.

"Ser—"

"No. You're already doing so much for me, letting me stay here tonight, letting me use your clothes. I'm taking the couch, and I'm not budging." She demanded.

"But the couch is lumpy—"

"Then I'd feel even worse if you had to sleep on it. I'm not going to argue about that, it's late, I'm tired, and I'm sure you're tired too. Thank you, Gray. Goodnight." With a quick bow for gratitude she took the clothes he offered and left the bedroom, closing the door behind her. He sighed and shook his head.

"Are all fire mages as stubborn as that flame-brain Natsu?" He grumbled quietly, feeling bad that she was going to sleep on the lumpy couch.

"Possibly! I'm pretty sure I'm more stubborn than him though!" Serafina called from the living room. Gray chuckled.

"Well, goodnight I guess." He said at normal volume, just to see if she could hear him.

"Goodnight. Thank you again!" So she could. He chuckled again and then stripped down to his underwear before climbing into his bed to go to sleep.

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><p><strong>Well… There you have it. The first chapter. Hope it didn't totally suck! REVIEW! Tell me if I should continue with this or take it down!<strong>

**UNTIL NEXT TIME MY LOVELIES!**

**A.~**


	2. A Secret Discovered

**Well hello! Nice to see all your lovely faces looking at this screen, so you right there, yes you, I love you. You are beautiful and amazing okay? Okay.**

**Sorry it took so long guys, I've been super swamped with homework (Pre-Cal sucks ass!) and I've been so stressed out lately that I actually got sick, how dumb of me right? Anyways, I'm all cuddled up under a bajillion(yes that's a measurement (shut up it is)) blankets because even though it's about 80 degrees outside I'm somehow STILL COLD. And since I'm stuck in bed, I thought that I might as well get some writing done!**

**Oh and for you pervs, there's a little bit of Me-Time for Gray in here. Yeah I'm making this story earn it's M rating a little early(okay really fudging early since it's only the second chapter *nervous laugh*), but are you guys really complaining? ;)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own FairyTail, if I did Nalu would be freaking CANNON by now and Nali would crash and burn! I love Nalu, anyone who disagrees, well I bite my thumb at you sir! They are so in love with each other it's stupid that they don't realize it okay!? Okay! ( jk jk jk I'm not that mean to the Nali shippers. You can ship whoever you want, I just think that my ship is the best. I will respect your ships if you respect mine)**

**Enjoy~**

**A.~**

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><p><em>Previously on Warm My Heart<em>

_"Are all fire mages as stubborn as that flame-brain Natsu?" He grumbled quietly, feeling bad that she was going to sleep on the lumpy couch._

_"Possibly! I'm pretty sure I'm more stubborn than him though!" Serafina called from the living room. Gray chuckled._

_"Well, goodnight I guess." He said at normal volume, just to see if she could hear him._

_"Goodnight. Thank you again!" So she could. He chuckled again and then stripped down to his underwear before climbing into his bed to go to sleep._

Now…

The next morning Gray woke up earlier than he had in a while, and groaned as he rubbed his eyes. He sat up, got out of bed slowly while stretching out his limbs and then headed for the bathroom. After relieving himself he left his bedroom and headed to the kitchen, but paused when movement from his couch caught his eye. Moving into an Ice-Make stance he froze when he saw hair the color of sakura. He relaxed as he remembered that he'd let the new girl, Serafina, stay the night at his place. He walked over closer to see if she'd actually lost control of her magic, but froze when he walked around the couch. He gulped as his eyes zeroed in on the section of skin exposed. The shirt he'd let her borrow had ridden up to just under her chest on her left side and the blanket she was curled up with, was down around her waist on that side.

And high up on her ribs underneath her breast was the navy blue crest of Fairy Tail. Watching it rise and fall slowly with each breath he was mesmerized briefly by the expanse of flawless white skin, the color of snow. He gulped again and quickly walked away from her. He decided to get dressed more fully than just his underwear as he wasn't the only person in the apartment anymore, then he headed to the kitchen when he had fresh clothes on. Seconds after he reached the kitchen he heard a soft groan and the shifting of sheets. Suddenly there was a gasp and a pink head appeared over the back of the couch. Serafina looked around and found Gray in the kitchen area, looking at her with a raised brow.

"You okay?" He asked. She blinked a couple times, and slowly the fog of slumber cleared from her mind, reminding her of the events of the previous night.

"Yeah…. Sorry, forgot for a minute where I was." She muttered rubbing the blurriness of sleep from her vision. She stood up and stretched her arms over her head. The sleeves of her borrowed t-shirt fell down, exposing her shoulders and a bit of her side. Gray was surprised to see that the bandages continued underneath her arm and down her side. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom." She mumbled before heading into his room. He frowned, watching her go and wondering what was under those bandages. He shook his head and decided not to dwell on it; she didn't bring it up so he wasn't going to ask. Instead he put on an apron and began making some breakfast.

Serafina came out a little bit later and he decided to strike up a conversation.

"Hey, so how did you sleep?" The raven haired ice mage asked. She hummed and stretched her arms over her head again, popping her joints this time.

"Real good. You keep the place cold at night but it beats the heck out of an alley that's for darn sure." She muttered. He chuckled.

"Well you can crash here until you can save up for a house, and from now on, no arguing about who gets the bed or the couch, you'll take the bed." He told her. She pouted but decided not to argue. For the moment. "Anyways, I'm making breakfast and tea, do you want some?"

"Sure, that sounds great and it smells delicious." She smiled.

"How do you like your tea?" He asked.

"However you like it is fine." She shrugged.

"You're sure?"

"Yes, I don't mind." She said, glancing around.

"Alright. You can look around if you like." He offered. They'd come in so late the night before that they had argued about sleeping arrangements and then just gone to bed without much of a tour other than the route to the bathroom. She whipped her head around to look at him quickly.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry." She said quickly.

"For?"

"Staring…. I've just… Never been in a place like this before…." She mumbled.

"An apartment?"

"A home." She corrected. Suddenly Gray looked sad and she seemed confused for a second. "Did I say the wrong thing?" She asked.

"You've never been in a home before? Didn't you have parents or a guardian or someone to look after you?"

"Well….. I had…. I guess you could call her a guardian, she was like a mom in a way." She frowned and rubbed her bandaged arm. "But we never lived in a house or apartment or anything."

"Where did you live, a hut or a cabin?" He asked.

"Uh, no….. It was a cave." She shrugged.

"A cave?" Gray looked appalled.

"Yeah. Now you see why it wasn't so 'homey' or anything." She continued to rub her hand up and down her wrapped arm and it drew Gray's attention there. He desperately wanted to ask what had happened to her but he knew that was beyond rude. Her arm was suddenly drawn behind her back and he looked back up to find her looking at him with a slightly self-conscious expression. He chastised himself for staring so long.

"Uh—anyways, tea!" He said quickly, turning back to the stove.

"Gray?" The girl called softly.

"Yes?"

"You're missing your shirt." She said bluntly. He cursed, found it on the chair at the kitchen table, and hastily put it back on.

"Sorry, it's a-"

"Habit, I know." She giggled.

"Right. Well, even though you seem to know about me, I don't know a thing about you. So, care to share a little bit about yourself Serafina?"

"Just Sera, please. And…. It depends on what you'd like to know." She shrugged as she sat and watched him pour the tea into two cups once the water was finished heating. It wasn't even steaming.

"Whatever you're willing to tell me." He smiled as he handed her one. She held the cup in her hands and hummed, thinking of some information to tell him as he sat down, both waiting for the tea to finish steeping.

"Hmm…. What can I tell you that's not totally embarrassing?" She mumbled, biting her lip softly as she thought. "Well…. I'm Serafina Lee, though I prefer to be called Sera, I started practicing fire magic around the age of four, I like any shade of blue, and…. My birthday is on the twenty first of June." She shrugged and set her now steaming cup down on the table. She took some of the pancakes he'd made and put them on a plate with some butter and syrup. She cut into them and began eating in a very lady like manner for someone apparently raised in a cave.

"Really?" He asked in surprise. She nodded. "The first official day of summer huh? That's about four months away now isn't it?" He speculated.

"Yup." She smiled.

"How old will you be turning?" He asked casually as he sipped his tea to see if it was ready to drink yet.

"Eighteen." She smiled. He inhaled his drink, spluttered and coughed. Sera shot up from her seat and went around the table to pat his back and help him. "Goodness, are you okay? Please be okay, I have no clue how to do CPR." She tried to joke. He chuckled and it turned into more coughing as he tried to calm down.

"S-sorry to worry you just swallowed tea the wrong way." He said gruffly. Jesus, eighteen! She's a freaking minor!? He felt disgusted with himself.

"Does my age bother you?" Sera frowned.

"What?" He asked in confusion.

"My age, me being seventeen, does it bother you?"

"W-why would it bother me?"

"I don't know, you're the one who inhaled your tea when I told you how old I was turning, you tell me." She was sharp; he had to give her that. He shook his head quickly.

"No, it's not that," it was partly that. He was very attracted to her, and to find out she was under age was a serious blow. It made him feel sort of like a predator or something, "it was just surprising is all. You seem very mature for your age." He said instead. She blushed and the light pink matched the color of her hair, making her chocolate colored eyes stand out more.

"So then it doesn't bother you?" She asked hopefully. This was a very dangerous question, and Gray had no clue what she meant by it.

"Why should it?"

"I don't know, but guys have freaked out about it before, and I never really understood it, something about predators or pedophiles or whatever, I didn't really get it as they ran for the hills, but it's kind of limited my friends in the past. I get really annoyed with people my age, the girls are so high strung and the boys only want to get into your pants and all this drama," he had no idea she could actually talk so much, it was kind of amusing and adorable, "and that's why I like hanging out with people who are a little bit older, but not too old otherwise you get into father slash grandpa territory, but it's not like you're like that, you more of a cool slightly older brother." She smiled sweetly, and Gray deflated slightly at being referred to as an older brother. But it was much safer than the alternatives he guessed. Boy was he going to be wrong…

O~O~O~O

Once breakfast was finished, Sera went into the bathroom to change her clothes and she tossed the clothes he'd let her borrow into the hamper. Then she folded the blanket she'd used to sleep on the couch with, putting that into a neat pile with the pillow and setting it on one end of the couch. She'd decided that she couldn't just stay there when she couldn't exactly offer anything to help out.

"Well, thank you for letting me stay." She said, bowing gratefully to him. Gray simply nodded, frowning. "I need to get going, Mira and Kinana are probably getting swarmed right now, I've never slept in so late." She said, shaking her head at herself. "Anyways, thanks, again. Seeya at the guild." She waved and then left the apartment. Gray raced out after her.

"Hey wait!" He called when he saw her going for the stairs. She paused and turned back to him with her hand on the banister.

"Yeah?"

"Listen….. I'm gonna be on a mission with Lucy, Natsu, and Erza. And my place is gonna be empty for as long as I'm gone. Would you mind…. Apartment sitting?" He nearly winced at how lame his excuse was. Sera frowned.

"What's apartment sitting?"

"Well, you stay here and take care of my apartment. Water the plants and stuff." He shrugged. She rose an eyebrow.

"You don't have plants." She muttered.

"Well I was planning on getting one, then Lucy wanted to go on a mission, so I thought I'd have to wait until I got back but if you'd be here to take care of it, then I could get one." He shrugged. Sera was biting her lip to stop a smile now.

"You sound like you're talking about a pet not a plant. A plant could survive a week without someone there." She shrugged.

"No, because it needs sunlight and someone needs to water it." Gray said quickly. She shook her head.

"You don't even know me, Gray, and you want to leave me alone in your apartment for a week? What if I steal everything you own, sell it, and then skip town?"

"I have a lot of money saved up, I can replace it, and you wouldn't do that anyway." He shrugged.

"How do you know?"

"Because you didn't steal anything last night. And you're too nice." He stated. She scoffed and shook her head. "I wouldn't just offer this to anyone, Sera. I trust you." He murmured. Her cheeks turned a faint pink color and she looked away for a second.

"O-okay…. I guess, I could." She shrugged drawing random patterns on the banister with her finger.

"Great." He smiled. "You can come back tonight then?" He asked. She frowned.

"You're leaving tonight?" She asked in confusion.

"No, I'm leaving tomorrow."

"Then why do I need to come back tonight if you're gonna be here?" She asked. He shrugged.

"You have somewhere to stay the night?" He asked, and then realized how harsh that was when she frowned and looked away.

"No. But, Gray I-"

"Then come back tonight." He said. She sighed.

"Fine. Thanks." She mumbled. He nodded.

"No problem. We're guild mates now." He shrugged. "Practically family." She smiled at that.

"Yeah, I guess. Onii-chan." She said jokingly. Gray chuckled and shook his head at her. "Anyways, I gotta go, need to get to work. Seeya at the guild." She turned, but stopped and then turned back. She looked at Gray for a second and he stared at her. Within the time it took him to blink she was crashing into him, her arms around his waist and her face buried in his chest, and she was so _warm_. Not swelteringly hot like the heat Natsu emitted, just warm, like what Gray imagined it felt like for someone to curl up next to a small fire on a cold winter night. His arms went around that warmth, for once not hating heat but wanting more of it. His face pressed lightly into her hair and the smell of cinnamon and roses assaulted his senses in the best way. "Thanks again Gray." She mumbled before pulling away. The ice mage was reluctant to let that warmth go, but nodded to her when she looked up at him. Wordlessly she went back to the staircase and this time actually walked down. Gray sighed and went back to his apartment to clean up the things from breakfast. He also cleaned up the apartment more, and did some chores he'd been meaning to catch up on. Once that was done he made sure he had all his clothes on before heading out.

O~O~O~O

The guild was in utter chaos when the raven haired man walked in late that afternoon. People were being thrown all over the place in a famous guild rumble, and Gray narrowly avoided being hit by an airborne Elfman.

"Yo, fire-breath! Watch where you throw people!" Gray snapped out of habit.

"Screw you ice-boy," the rose haired man sneered, "you don't tell me what to do!"

"Shut up flame-brain!" Gray snapped, he hated that damn name! He cursed that damned Sugarboy for ever calling him that.

"Make me snowball!" Natsu taunted. Gray got into his fighting stance and Natsu prepared a flaming fist.

"Ice-Make: Cannon!" He held the large cannon and shot it right at Natsu's face. Instead of dodging the hit Natsu grabbed the first person and used them as a shield, and that person just so happened to be Sera.

She screamed right before she was hit with the blast of snow and ice.

"Sera!" Gray exclaimed, throwing the cannon to the ground.

"Holy hell that's cold!" She shouted as she squirmed mid-air. "Put me down before I melt your face off, who the hell uses a girl as a human shield, what's wrong with you!? Do you really have flames for brains or is there just no sense of morality in you? I was raised in a _cave_ and I have better manners than using a girl as a human shield!" She scolded Natsu. He looked startled, sheepish, and scared all at once as he put her back on her feet. She looked down at her clothes and pouted. "Great now my clothes are soaked." She winced and hissed in pain as the water soaked into her bandages. "Ow, ow, ow." She hissed and grabbed at the wet cloth.

"Here, come with me, I'll get you out of those wet clothes. Mira, do you have any of Tessa's clothes that Serafina can borrow?" Kaia asked quickly before she turned and gave her husband a frosty look. "And Natsu will be happy to apologize and dry your clothes for you." She said. Natsu nodded quickly, smiling brightly.

"Sorry about that I just grabbed the first person by me, which happened to be you." He shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah. Next time look before you grab okay?" She huffed, and then winced as the cold stung her side. Kaia took her and led her back into the bathroom after grabbing the clothes from Mira.

"Okay strip down." Kaia demanded.

"Wh-what?" Sera sweat dropped.

"You heard me. Strip. Take off those wet clothes." The bluenette sighed when the girl didn't do as she said. "C'mon Serafina-"

"Just Sera, please."

"Fine. Sera. We haven't got all day. Mira needs your help." Sera fidgeted.

"Okay, fine. But you have to leave." She muttered.

"Why?"

"Just leave okay? Please?"

"Honey, it's not like I don't have the same-"

"Get out!" She snapped, and Kaia flinched back at the flash of red in her eyes. Sera turned away and covered her face with her hands. "Sorry. But please, just leave. I'm sure I know by now how to dress myself." She mumbled.

"Alright, I'll leave you to it." She nodded. Sera didn't respond so the bluenette left. When she was gone Sera sighed and took off the wet clothes. She also took of a the wet bandages since they were hurting more than helping now. In just her underwear, she picked up the rather large sweater Kaia had left for her. "Hey by the way, I forgot to ask if you wanted me to-" Kaia broke off as she entered the bathroom and took in Sera's marred body. The pinkette was holding the sweater to cover her chest but her side and arm were completely exposed. "get you…. Bandages… My god, Sera, what-"

"Get out!" She screamed, rushing forward and shoving her out of the door before slamming it in her face. She cursed and dressed quickly in the outfit after drying off her wounds, and then left the bathroom after grabbing her wet clothes and disposing of the bandages. Kaia was waiting right outside the door in the hall.

"Sera, what-"

"Don't say anything. If you tell anyone I'll deny it and leave." She hissed.

"Wait, I can help!" Kaia said when the pinkette began walking away. She grabbed her arm but Sera quickly knocked her hands away.

"You can't help. No one can help. I'm fine, I've had them for longer than you can imagine. They don't change, they don't heal, they don't get worse. Just. Drop. It." She warned.

"But Sera, I can heal you-"

"No you can't. Others have tried and it didn't end well. Just leave it be." With that, she left and plastered on a smile as she walked out and greeted Gray and Lucy.

"Oh, Sera, you look so cute in that sweater! The gray really brings out your hair!" Lucy complimented.

"Really? Thanks." Sera sounded completely cheerful and she smiled wide enough to rival Natsu's happy grin.

"Sera, could I get some help?" Kinana asked as she tried to take orders.

"Coming!" Sera called and then waved to Gray and Lucy before rushing off to help work.

"Hey, Sera, wait!" Gray called. She turned and he held up her green scarf. Casually, he looped it over her head and then stepped back. "There." He smiled. Sera blushed, and put a hand over her mouth to hide her shy smile.

"Thanks, Gray." He nodded and then she turned and got to work, helping Kinana take orders and bring drinks and food. Gray watched her work, and he realized something different about her. With a slight color to his cheeks, he realized that somehow she now had boobs. He wondered if her shirt before had just been so tight that it was pressing them down or something. Either way he decided to ask Lucy and Kaia if they had any old clothes that they could lend to Sera until she could get some of her own. They offered to just take her shopping instead and the ice mage saw no reason that they shouldn't, so he offered to pay for the stuff. With a budget that Kaia and Lucy worked out, Gray gave them the money and Lucy called Sera over to demand that she go on a last minute shopping trip with the blonde and bluenette. Sera put up some protest but after assurance that Mira and Kinana could handle the morning rush she agreed.

O~O~O~O

Gray waited at the guild until closing for Sera, and then they walked back to his apartment together.

"So, how was your day?" He asked for the sake of conversation. Sera shrugged and looked up at him, smiling slightly.

"It was alright. Aside from a shot of ice right to the face, my day was pretty okay." She joked.

"Yeah….. Sorry about that." He muttered. "Natsu can be a real idiot sometimes." He chuckled when she laughed.

"I saw that today." She nodded in agreement. "He doesn't always think before he acts, does he?" She smiled.

"No, not really. Sometimes I wonder if he has a brain at all." Gray snorted. She giggled and shook her head.

"Goodness, you guys are just like brothers." She teased.

"Oh god no. I'd shoot myself if I was related to that flame-brain." He scoffed. Sera smiled but slowly it faded from her face, replaced with a small frown.

"Do you not like fire mages?"

"Well…. My normal response would have been 'only ones with pink hair' but I can't exactly say that anymore. So….. Only if they're Natsu." Gray said jokingly. Sera smiled up at him. "So what about you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah. Do you not like ice mages?"

"I like them well enough if they're nice. Why do you ask?" She wondered.

"Well, I noticed you weren't exactly getting along with Kaia today." He shrugged. "I asked her about it and….." he frowned.

"And what?" Sera sounded tense, and she wouldn't look at him. She stared straight ahead and for a moment Gray thought about what Kaia had told him.

_"She'd kill me for mentioning this, but I want you to look out for her. She's got some really bad wounds, Gray. Just make sure that if anything happens you come get me. She wouldn't let me help and she told me not to tell anyone, but I'm concerned. They looked really inflamed, like a really bad angry red. They weren't bleeding but they're open wounds. I'm concerned for her. I don't want them getting infected or anything so tell me if you notice anything."_ She'd demanded.

"And she wouldn't tell me anything. I just was wondering what happened." He shrugged. Sera seemed to relax a bit, and her left hand came up to hold her arm, rubbing lightly up and down it.

"I just got mad about Natsu. She was trying to defend him and I blew up at her, I'll apologize tomorrow." She mumbled. Gray nodded and they headed inside the building and up the stairs.

When they got inside Sera headed straight for the bathroom. When she came back out the sleeves to the sweater were pushed up and new bandages covered her right arm from her wrist up to where they disappeared under her shirt. Her chest was smaller again, so Gray deduced that she had bandages covering her chest too. And then he mentally slapped himself for being such a pervert and hastily looked away as he offered her some more clothes to sleep in. Sera went back to the bathroom and Gray changed into some pajama pants that he'd never worn before. He had forgone the shirt, knowing that would have been lost quite quickly anyway, and made up the bed for Sera to sleep in.

"Do you always make up your bed before going to sleep?" He gentle voice still startled him and he whirled around in surprise.

"Huh? Oh, uh. No. I don't really care, but I didn't know if wrinkly sheets would bother you." He shrugged. Sera frowned, seeming confused. "You're taking the bed tonight, Sera. I insist." She shook her head quickly.

"No. No way. I'm not kicking you out of your bed. You're already doing way too much for me." She huffed.

"I'm hardly doing anything." He scoffed.

"Really? You're letting me stay here until I can earn enough money for my own house, and you're paying for my clothes-"

"What do you mean?" He feigned innocence, wondering how she knew. She snorted at his attempt.

"I've got sharp ears, Gray. I heard and saw you talking to Lucy and Kaia. The shopping trip is for me. And you're paying for it. You're doing way too much for me when I can't pay you back-"

"That's not true. You're going to be apartment sitting for me. And you're going to be taking care of my plants-"

"That you _still_ don't have by the way." She pointed out.

"Well, yeah, I forgot to do it today, hey you can do that while you're out tomorrow. Here, I'll give you some money and if you see any plants you like then-"

"No! Enough. Just cut the crap Gray. Why are you doing this?" She huffed.

"I just…. I don't want you on the streets. I know you have magic, but someone could still easily overpower you. I don't want anything bad to happen to you. I want to protect you." He shrugged. And then he realized how that sounded when he saw her blushing. "B-because you're part of the guild, and like a little sister to me!" He added hastily. She shook her head at him.

"Way too much. There's no way I'll ever be able to repay you." She muttered.

"I don't need you to repay me. That's not what this is about. I just want to help you." He sighed, realizing from her strange expression that she'd never had this kind of courtesy before. "Anyways, it's late, and I'm getting tired. Just take the damn bed and don't argue."

"I will argue! I'm not making you sleep on the couch!" She huffed.

"The couch is lumpy, I don't want my guest sleeping on something uncomfortable like that."

"And I'd feel horrible and be unable to sleep if you got stuck with it!" She huffed. "I'm used to brick walls, that couch felt awesome compared to that so really it's no big deal-"

"You're taking that bed and that's final."

"Half." Sera said suddenly. Gray blinked, and blinked again.

"What?

"Half. I'll take half of the bed. You take the other half." She shrugged.

"What, no!"

"Yeah!"

"No way!"

"Why not?"

"Because that's inappropriate!" He exclaimed. She scoffed.

"Oh please. There's nothing inappropriate about it. We'll both be fully clothed, it's not like we're together or anything, I mean you said I was like a little sister. Family members share beds all the time right? Plus, the bed is huge, I doubt we'll even have to share the same blanket bubble." She muttered. Gray frowned and watched her walk over to one side. She got under the covers and leaned across the bed to pat the vacant half, urging him wordlessly to come over and get in. Grumbling mentally to himself about how bad of an idea this was, he walked over and got under the covers. "See? Perfectly fine. Good night Gray." She smiled before laying down facing away from him.

"Night." He sighed and laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

O~O~O~O

When morning came, Gray found himself surrounded by warmth. Something heavy was weighing down his chest and something hot was draped across his stomach and over one of his legs. He groaned as sleep faded from his mind slowly, taking with it a very good dream that he wished he'd been able to finish, even though he couldn't remember exactly who it was the plot of the dream was still pretty clear. A petite pale body writhing under him—or was it over him? Hard to tell with all the rolling that was happening between silk sheets—and then he remembered the pink hair and wide brown eyes. He also remembered that someone with those exact features was sleeping in bed next to him. His eyes flashed open and his vision was filled with pink. Sera was curled up, practically on top of him, and when she shifted slightly to be closer he felt her warm skin against his side. He froze as he felt her leg moving against his in her sleep.

When the hell had he lost his pajama pants? He remembered having them on when he went to sleep! Worse than that, he realized that either the shorts he'd let her borrow had ridden up considerably, or they weren't there at all, because her legs were bare. He looked down. No sheets over their legs, only a corner of it draped over her behind, covering it and her panties from view. Definitely no bunched up shorts. What the hell? Where on Earthland had their pants gone!?

"So… Cold." She hummed and nuzzled her face closer. "No, don't…. Play leapfrog with….. Not with the unicorn….." The fuck? Gray tried to stop himself from laughing by tensing his stomach muscles and biting his lips together. "Wait, the banana's gonna…. No don't sing Mr. Banana….." She grumbled. Her nose wrinkled up as she frowned and then moments later her expression smoothed out. "Not the pink wire….. Binkies will stop you…" What the hell was this girl dreaming about, Gray wondered as he tried desperately not to laugh. The urge left him when she moved again and her thigh brushed up against his groin. Now he was struggling not to groan.

And that was when his dream decided to come back to him. A small, pale body with excellent curves, pink hair splayed out over pillows, brown eyes hazy and half lidded, pouty lips calling his name.

"Gray…." She exhaled warmly against his collar. He sucked in a breath and decided that he had to get out of that bed before he did something he would surely regret. Like wake her up and see if his dream got her curves right, or the expressions she made when he—

He pulled her arm from around him quickly and swallowed hard as he grabbed her thigh and pulled her leg from over his. When he was detangled he slipped out of the bed and Sera rolled into his spot.

"Gray…." She whimpered. That sound sent a shot of arousal through him and he high tailed it to the bathroom to take care of some business quickly. He tried to solve his issue with a cold shower but those never really did work because he was so used to the chill of ice and snow.

"God dammit." He growled before turning the dial to a warmer setting. Grabbing his shower gel he resolved to making it quick. He let what he could remember from his dream flood his mind and filled in the blanks with what he wanted. Lathering up his hand he grabbed his arousal with a slight hiss and began to pump. His fingers, warmed by the water, felt so good sliding over his sensitive skin. His spread his legs to either side of the tub in order to brace himself and rested his free arm against the tiled wall, with his head resting against his forearm. "Shit…" He hissed out as images floated around in his head.

_Sera was completely naked before him, and her small smile was just as enticing as all the bared skin she offered. "Gray, come here….." Her voice lilted as she rose a hand as if to reach for him. He didn't hesitate to follow the order she'd given. He crawled up onto the bed and hovered over her. Reaching up she kissed him and pulled him down until he was pressed against her. The warmth of her body heating him up as he simultaneously cooled her down. Her hand trailed from his shoulder, down his chest, to his cock. _He groaned lowly and thrust into the hand, needing more._ "Like this?" She murmured, gripping a little tighter and moving faster._

"Yeah….. Damn, just like that….." He moaned.

_"Gray… I want you so much, please…." She purred into his ear. He nodded and her hand fell away as he positioned himself and thrust into her. She cried out at the sudden fullness and he moaned at how tight it was. Not wasting a single second, he began to thrust into her quickly, and listened to her moans and cries of pleasure._

"So tight….. Nngh…. God…. So good….." He moaned as his hand picked up speed.

_"Gray! I'm so close!"_

"Me too….. That's it….. Come for me…." He panted. _Her hedonistic cry echoed around the room as her body arced up, her head thrown back against the pillows, her mouth open forming his name._

"Fuck….. Ungh, Sera…." He groaned loudly as the coil that had been tightening in his stomach released. He rode his orgasm, stroking lazily as he came down from the high, panting and a little weak kneed. He leaned heavily against the tiles as he calmed down and after a minute or two he stood up straight and angled the showerhead to wash away the aftermath of his perverted fantasy. He washed himself off as well, trying to scrub away the guilt of imagining her when she was innocently asleep in the next room. Why did she have to be so young? Why couldn't she have been at least a year older? He shook his head at himself and turned off the water.

He was drying off when he heard it.

"No! Stop!"

Grabbing his underwear and yanking them on he rushed out into the bedroom, thinking that maybe someone had somehow gotten into his apartment. But he didn't find anything except for Sera. She was twisting and turning on the bed, flipping back and forth and shaking her head, her brows furrowed in a deep frown.

"No!" She cried as her hands grabbed at the sheets. Smoke began rising from her right fist and Gray rushed forward hoping to wake her before she actually set anything on fire.

"Sera!" He called, reaching out for her. He yanked his hands away the second they touched her skin, his fingertips immediately turning an angry red color wherever his skin had touched her burning hot flesh. "Shit, Sera, wake up!" He called. The task of waking her just got much more difficult since he couldn't shake her awake. She tossed onto her side with another and then she rolled back onto her back with a scream. At this rate, if he didn't wake her up soon his neighbors might think he was murdering someone or something. Forget burning sheets, he didn't want police at his door when he was in his underwear and she was just in his shirt. That would be a nightmare to explain. "Sera, wake up!" He snapped tugging the sheets from her grip. Clearly she wasn't going to wake up just to his voice. With a few muttered curses, he iced his hands and grabbed the arm closest to him, which happened to be her right arm. She screamed and shot straight up in bed the second the ice touched her, and bat his cold hands away before gripping at her arm in pain.

"What-What the hell!?" She snapped, cringing as the ice that had melted on contact with her hot skin seeped into the bandages. "Ow, ow, ow, fuck!" She got a fire in her left palm and burned the bandages off quickly as she turned away from him and got out of the bed. "Dammit! Did you have to put fucking _ice_ on me, shit that hurts!" She hissed, scraping off the burned up cloth that still clung to her skin.

Gray didn't answer. He was too busy gawking at her arm. "Sera….. What the hell happened to you?" He asked, staring at the gashes that were torn raggedly into her skin. She stiffened, looked down at her arm and then back to him as her mouth opened and closed, trying to come up with something quickly.

"I-….. I have to use the bathroom." She said before practically sprinting out of the room and slamming the door behind her.

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><p><strong>Well…. This was frickin looooooooooong. I hope you guys liked it! REVIEW! Leave me some love because I love you guys so much, and I love your reviews!<strong>

**UNTIL NEXT TIME MY LOVELIES!**

**A.~**


	3. Shopping and Storytelling

**Hello my lovelies! How are you doing today you beautiful people? If you're doing well, I'm so happy for you! If you doing not so great I hope I can cheer you up with this update!**

**I would like to humbly apologize for going sooo long without updating. I just didn't have time between pre-cal and English, and when I did have time I had horrible writers block. So I apologize ten million times for leaving you hanging like that. Unfortunately, I can't promise that it won't happen again. Sorry!**

**SPOILERS HERE! Okay so I came up with the idea for Sera's power (which you learn about in this chapter) before I learned that the great Mashima made Devil Slayers a thing so don't judge me for this.**

**OKAY SPOILERS ENDED!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing sadly. Now I shall be back later after I bawl my eyes out for not owning fairy tail.**

**Enjoy!~**

**A.~**

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><p><em>Previously on Warm My Heart<em>

_"What-What the hell!?" She snapped, cringing as the ice that had melted on contact with her hot skin seeped into the bandages. "Ow, ow, ow, fuck!" She got a fire in her left palm and burned the bandages off quickly as she turned away from him and got out of the bed. "Dammit! Did you have to put fucking ice on me, shit that hurts!" She hissed, scrapping off the burned up cloth that still clung to her skin._

_Gray didn't answer. He was too busy gawking at her arm. "Sera….. What the hell happened to you?" He asked, staring at the gashes that were torn raggedly into her skin. She stiffened, looked down at her arm and then back to him as her mouth opened and closed, trying to come up with something quickly._

_"I-….. I have to use the bathroom." She said before practically sprinting out of the room and slamming the door behind her._

Now…

Gray waited impatiently for her to finish in the bathroom, and when she stepped out with her hair steaming itself dry he rushed forward, prepared to ask her a million questions but the look on her face stopped him. She looked wary. Almost like an animal cornered, on guard and waiting to be attacked.

"Is your arm alright? With the cold water on it and everything. Are you okay?" he asked. Her mouth opened but nothing came out. She was too stunned by the questions. She had been sure that he would have asked what happened.

"Ah-uh… Yeah… I dried it off, and it feels better." She mumbled after a moment.

"Good. I'm sorry about the pain. I didn't know the ice would affect you like that." He frowned. She shook her head.

"No, it's okay. How could you know, I never told you. It's just very sensitive to the cold is all." She shrugged. He nodded and looked down at her arm, which was now covered by Tessa's sweater.

"Is it bandaged again?"

"No. I need to let it breathe once in a while. But I'd run out of long sleeved shirts to keep it covered until now." She mumbled, reaching up to place her left hand on her arm and rub lightly.

"Does it hurt?" He asked softly. "I mean normally, without anything bad happening to it. Does it hurt?" She took a second to contemplate what to tell him. She settled for the truth.

"Not much. It'll ache if I move it, but I've become used to it." She was on guard again, he could see that as he looked at her. Her body was tense, her eyes cold and expression unreadable.

"It's clear that you don't like me asking questions about it, so I'm not going to. But if you ever want to tell me on your own, you can." He offered.

"Thanks, but that won't happen." She said without hesitation. He nodded.

"Alright. Fair enough." He replied. "Do you want some breakfast before—"

"Knock knock! You better be decent because if you're not I'm gonna knock my fist into your head instead of your door." Kaia called as she walked into the apartment with Lucy being dragged behind her.

"Did you keep it unlocked?" Sera asked in surprise.

"No, she knows where I keep my spare key. Never should have told her." The ice mage grumbled. Sera giggled and then squeaked when Kaia marched forward and grabbed her by the collar.

"We're going shopping now. C'mon."

"But wait, I just woke up and—"

"And we'll get breakfast at the mall."

"But I gotta—"

"You can do it there. Seeya Gray, don't push my husband's buttons too much on the mission otherwise Lucy has full permission to kill both of you." Kaia called.

"Wait you're not going?" Gray asked when he realized that the blonde had stayed behind.

"No. Kaia dragged me here talking about how we were gonna be late and so I couldn't go shopping with them."

"Then why drag you here?"

"She said something about exchanging one brown eyed girl for another and how it might appease you. I have no clue, she was in a bad mood this morning when she barged into my place. I wasn't going to argue with a pregnant woman."

"Good idea."

"I have self-preservation instincts just like anyone else would." She huffed.

"Know what she was angry about?"

"Natsu and her had a fight about something or other I think. I didn't ask for details because I didn't want to risk making her even more angry by bringing it up." The blonde shrugged. "Anyways, let's go, we've got a train to catch." She sighed. "Oh, and _you_ get to sit with Natsu since he's refusing to sit with Erza." She smirked.

"Oh come on!" Gray whined as he grabbed the bag he'd packed while Sera had been in the bathroom.

O~O~O~O

"Wait, Kai— Good god hold the hell on you're hurting me!" Sera snapped, smacking the bluenette's hand away. "What the hell is your deal today? I was gonna apologize for being a bitch but now I'm not so sure." She huffed. Kaia turned and looked at her for a second before her expression softened.

"Sorry…. I'm just… Annoyed." She sighed. Sera nodded.

"That much is kind of obvious. What about?" She asked as they began walking down the sidewalk.

"My back is killing me, and Natsu was being a little… Overbearing this morning."

"Wanna talk about it?" Sera offered.

"I doubt you'd want to hear it." Kaia snorted.

"Well, I dunno. I've never had a relationship before so I wouldn't be much help in any other way. And I really suck at jokes so," she shrugged, "I figured listening to your problems was the best option. Plus maybe I could make up for being so mean to you yesterday." She said, smiling hopefully. Kaia looked at her for a second then began blinking rapidly seconds before she burst into tears. Sera stumbled back a step. "Uh-… S-sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry!" She exclaimed. Kaia shook her head and threw her arms around the younger girl, hugging her tightly. Sera was frozen for a second and then awkwardly she pat Kaia's shoulder, unsure what the hell was happening.

"S-sorry, mood swings." Kaia explained seconds later as she pulled away. Sera nodded and gave an awkwardly forced laugh as she scratched at the back of her head.

"It's cool, I guess." She smiled. "Not like you could help it right?"

"Right. Sorry. Anyways, let's go!" Kaia smiled as she wiped her eyes. Sera blinked ad then shook her head, watching for a second as the bluenette started walking. She just knew that she was going to have whiplash if this continued.

Regardless, she caught up to her and they began chatting as they walked down the street. Occasionally they would pause to look at a display in a store window and Kaia would mention that Sera should try it on. But the girl shook her head quickly each time. She hated changing rooms. And when Kaia asked why she refused to try anything on before buying it over lunch she had to take a second and remember that the other woman had already seen her wounds.

"I hate undressing and seeing them." She muttered, grabbing at her arm. Kaia glanced down at it briefly and frowned.

"Honestly, I can heal it for you." She offered gently. Sera shook her head.

"You can't."

"I'm a fairly decent healer in my opinion, I mean I've healed plenty of people from the guild—"

"I'm not doubting your abilities Kaia. I'm just saying, you _can't_ heal me. I won't let it happen." Sera corrected.

"Why? If you don't mind me asking." Kaia frowned. Sera bit her lip.

"First, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You were raised by dragons, and I've read that they're noble creatures, kind. Is that true?" Sera asked.

"Yes. Indra and Cryto were very nice, Cryto found me as a baby and raised me, and then Indra found us when I was four."

"And one more quick question. Have you ever heard or read anything about demons?" Kaia looked shocked at the question, and Sera rose an eyebrow at her.

"Oh-uh…. Yes. Tricksters who love death and destruction." Kaia muttered. Sera nodded.

"And it's true." She said, making the bluenette's eyes widen slightly a moment later.

"Wait, you mean you've encountered a demon!?" Sera shushed her quickly when people looked over to them. "Have you?"

"Yes, yes, now be quiet." She hissed. "People tend to freak out over this stu—"

"And you lived?"

"Well I'm here aren't I?"

"Right, stupid question. A better question is _how_?" Kaia asked. Sera bit her lip and shook her head.

"Don't look at me like that, it's not like I got away unscathed." She muttered, gesturing briefly to her arm. "The demon did this to me, and some of the…. Blood from the demon was on the claws when they ripped me open. It poisoned me, and if I heal it…. Then the poison stays in there and it…. I don't want that to happen." She muttered. "And before you ask, no I won't talk about the effects or anything having to do with that." She said quickly.

"Oh… When did it happen?"

"Three years ago. I was fourteen when I-…. I-I killed her….." She gulped.

"Her….?" Kaia asked. But it seemed that Sera was done discussing it. She had dug into the chicken she'd ordered, making sure her mouth was too full to talk. Kaia wordlessly dropped the subject and began discussing getting more clothes than the couple measly bags they had. Sera nodded her agreement and then things seemed more normal.

Sera even ended up going into dressing rooms to try on some clothes she liked.

"Are you sure about these? I mean the-um…. _Those_ won't be able to breathe if-"

"I'll be fine. They won't heal naturally anyways. And as long as major force isn't applied to them then it'll be okay. I've lived with them for a while now, I know how to take care of them." Sera said as she stepped out of the small dressing room and went over to the mirror.

"Whoa….. Sera…. If I wasn't married, pregnant, and completely straight….. I'd totally do you." Kaia said seriously, making Sera laugh. She looked at herself in the mirrors and pursed her lips. The black leather pants really were sexy in her opinion. And the black tank top and cropped leather jacket she wore with it completed the badass look.

"Only one problem. My pink frickin hair." She pouted.

"It's cute. Don't worry about it. My husband looks badass and he has pink hair—if that's what you were going for anyways." Kaia laughed.

"Alright…. Then I'll get them." Sera smiled.

"Sweet. Go change." Kaia ordered. Sera saluted her and then marched back into the dressing room to change.

O~O~O~O

It was two weeks later that Gray came back from the mission. With Natsu not using enough force to destroy anything it had taken much longer to apprehend the monster they'd been hired to fight. But finally they were back home and after dropping off his suitcase to a spectacularly clean and empty apartment, which now held a couple plants he noted, he went to the guild to find Sera.

The second he stepped into the guild hall he began looking for a head of pink hair. And of course he spotted one, but it wasn't the one he wanted and he cursed Natsu for his stupid pink spikes. He huffed and continued looking around as he walked further into the hall.

"If you're looking for Sera, she's tending the bar tonight." Mira informed him as she passed out drinks to a nearby table.

"Isn't she a little young to be handling alcohol?" Gray asked.

"She's quite the responsible girl actually." Mira smiled. "And her shift is just about over, hopefully you can catch her before she heads home for the night." Gray nodded, thinking to himself that he would see her even if she did go home. But he headed back to the bar anyways, and was confronted with a major crowd of men when he got there.

"Sweet god, what the hell—"

"Oh my god! Gray! You're back, welcome home!" He heard a female voice call out to him. A hand shot up and waved and he tried to follow it to the body, but couldn't exactly see. Suddenly Sera stumbled out of the crowd and crashed into him, making him stumble back and fall to the floor as she landed on top of him. He groaned in belated pain as her elbow dug into his ribs and she shot up at the sound with a gasp. "Ohmigosh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" She asked quickly.

"I'll be fine….. Just get up would ya? Your elbow nearly broke a rib." He teased.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She said as she stood and leaned down to take his hand. He gulped when he looked up and realized he had a perfect view down her shirt. Looking away quickly he let her help him to his feet. "It was just really crowded and I tripped coming out of the crowd and then I couldn't catch my balance." She pouted.

"It's alright. No permanent damage, I'm fine and as long as you're not hurt then no harm done." He shrugged. Sera smiled and then she was hugging him.

"Welcome back." He stood frozen as she hugged him and after a second she realized he wasn't hugging her back. Quickly she let him go and straightened up. "Sorry, are we not there yet? I mean I guess I could see why we're not and all since technically you've only known me for, what, two days?" She rambled. "Yeah, so now this is a little bit awkward, sorry, I was just happy you were back and everything and-" She broke off when he began laughing and he watched as a blush broke out over her cheeks. "Sorry, I ramble when I'm nervous, like you couldn't tell." She said hiding her face in her hands.

"Hey, don't be sorry, it's kinda cute." He chuckled, patting her on the head. She peeked out from between her fingers and then lowered her hands a bit to smile at him. "Anyways, is your shift over yet?"

"Yeah, just finished actually. U-unless you want a drink, and then I can totally extend it for a couple minutes or whatever." She offered quickly.

"Nah, just came to see if you were still here, the apartment was empty so I was just wondering." He shrugged. Sera winced.

"Yeah….. still bumming around at your place, I'm sorry, if you want me to leave because you want your apartment to yourself again then I can totally—"

"Sera! It's fine. You can stay as long as you need. Don't worry about it." He shrugged. "Anyways, wanna walk home together?" He offered.

"Yeah, I'd love the company as long as you don't breathe down the back of my neck too." She laughed.

"Too?"

"Yeah…. As in also." She teased.

"Ha. Ha. Smartass." He chuckled and turned to head out of the guild. "But what did you mean by the also part?"

"Oh, nothing, just that all these people are _really_ friendly." She shrugged. "Anyways let's head home. Oh wait, I need my jacket!" She said quickly before diving back into the crowd and disappearing. Gray frowned and waited for her to remerge. It took a couple minutes but she burst through the swarm of bodies and he caught her quickly as she lost her balance completely.

"Jesus, this is insane." He chuckled.

"Yeah I know. They weren't there before my shift started, and then I guess everyone either needed refills on their drinks or got thirsty when I stepped behind the counter." She shrugged. "That's always how it goes anyway. You think you're gonna have a nice easy day of work and then it turns into a catastrophe." He knew it had less to do with the fact that they were needing refreshments, and more to do with the fact that the pinkette was wearing leather pants and a deep V-neck sweater but he didn't comment on the issue.

"That's what it's like working a mission with Natsu." Gray muttered. Sera laughed as she opened the guild doors. Once they were on the street she turned to him and walked backwards.

"What's it like?"

"What's what like? And be careful or you're gonna trip and hit your head. Or hit someone." He said in concern. Sera waved off his worries.

"When it comes to this kind of thing, I'm actually quite aware of everything happening. I have really good hearing and a killer sense of smell." She smiled. "And what's it like working a mission?"

"Oh really? Anything like that of a Dragon Slayer? It's hard to describe what it's like to go on a mission because they can all be so different."

"Really? Oh and yes actually. I have the smell and hearing of a dog." She shrugged.

"Yeah. Wow. So….. Are you a Dragon Slayer then?" Gray asked. Sera frowned and shook her head.

"I wish I was that lucky." She muttered. Her mood had plummeted with the one comment and Gray frowned, trying to figure out how to bring a smile back to her face. Looking around quickly he spotted something and turned back to her.

"Hey, have you had dinner yet?" He asked.

"Um… No, why?" She frowned. He jerked a thumb to indicate the building across the street and Sera followed it, looking at the neon sign for the open diner.

"Wanna grab a bite to eat?" He offered. "I'll pay." She bit her lip and shook her head.

"You don't have to pay for me, I'll get my own meal—"

"Nonsense, you need to save your money for the house you're going to buy remember. I'll pay don't worry."

"Gray, I wouldn't feel right. I may look tiny but I eat. _A lot._" She stressed.

"I'm sure it can't be more than Natsu." He chuckled as they crossed the street. He held the door open for her and she snorted.

"You're in for quite a shock then." She muttered. "I'm paying for my own meal, and that's final. No protests or I'm going home." She warned when he opened his mouth to continue arguing. With a heavy sigh he held his hands up in surrender. She smiled and stepped closer so she could reach up on her toes and pat him on the head. "Good boy." She teased before turning and skipping into the diner.

"I'm not a dog y'know." He huffed. She shot him a smile over her shoulder.

"Welcome, to Maci's Diner, please, have a seat wherever you like, your menus will be at the booth or table, and I'll be around in just a minute to take your orders." An older looking woman smiled at them. Sera nodded and smiled back at her before going to the booth in the far corner. Gray followed her over and sat down on the bench across from her. Both took up their menus and started looking at the choices.

"Uh…. Gray… Your name is on here." She whispered.

"Huh? Yeah, so is Natsu's and Kaia's and Lucy's….. Dang just about everyone in the guild is on here." He frowned.

"Yeah, about that, Kaia came in here earlier on in the year while we were having our annual contest. Whoever wins the eating contest we hold each year gets to pick the names of the meals on our menu. Keeps folks interested in this place, and it's always fun. The little lady almost ate us out of all our food though." The woman from before was standing in front of the table and both had jumped when she had begun to talk as they didn't know she was there.

"Oh, well that's cool." Sera smiled, glancing at Gray to see him nod in agreement.

"Yeah, anyways, would you like anything to drink?" The lady grabbed a pen and paper from her apron and waited patiently for them. Gray ordered an ice tea, and Sera asked for a glass of milk. "Alright, iced tea and milk, coming right up. Oh, and will your orders be together or separate?" She added.

"Separate."

"Together." Gray and Sera looked at each other, well _glared_ was a more appropriate term.

"Um…"

"They'll be together."

"No, they'll be separate." Sera shot Gray another glare and then smiled at the waitress. The woman laughed and shook her head.

"Sorry, Miss, but I'll go with what Mr. Fullbuster says. It's always nice to see a gentleman paying for the date." At that Sera and Gray both blushed and shook their heads with wide eyes.

"N-no, no," Sera laughed nervously, "this isn't a date, we're just friends." She clarified. "And besides that, I eat a _lot_ and I don't want to eat him into bankruptcy, so—"

"Ignore her, she's just embarrassed easily. The meals will be together." Gray said, cutting her off. Sera resisted the urge to glare daggers at him as her cheeks reddened further. The woman nodded.

"Your drinks will be right out to you." She promised before leaving. The second she was gone Sera's foot connected with his shin under the table. _Hard._ The ice mage yelped and his knee banged on the underside of the table, making the pain in his leg double.

"What the hell was that for?" He huffed grabbing at his knee and shin as he glared at her over the table top. She glared right back.

"I told you I wanted to pay for myself dammit. I'm really hungry—"

"So order what you want, my treat." He smirked. "If you want we can turn this into an eating contest." Her eyes narrowed at that.

"I would eat you under the table, and then some. My metabolism is insane."

"Or you don't eat as much as you say."

"Wait, is that a challenge?"

"Maybe."

"Okay, alright. You asked for it." She warned as the waitress came back over with their drinks.

"Hello again, have either of you decided on what you're gonna have?" She asked, getting out her pad and pen again. Gray rose a brow at Sera and gestured for her to go first. Sera gave him a look that told him he was in trouble and then she turned back to the waitress with an innocent smile. "Ready little lady?"

"Yes ma'am. I'll start out with two Natsu Fire omelets—"

"Now you know those are spicy right?" The woman asked.

"I know. Oh and with those, if I could get some tabasco sauce on some hash browns as a side. Anyways, along with the omelets I'll have two Stellar Star pancake stacks with five each, oh and can I have sausage links as the sides for those, and then I'll have the Dragon Fried eggs, three orders of that, bacon for the side please. And to top it all off could I get five orders of whole wheat toast lightly buttered." With that she set her menu down and looked at the waitress who was gaping openly at her.

"A-are you sure you'll be able to eat all of that miss?" She asked.

"I assure you, I can." She nodded, smiling before she turned to find Gray with both brows raised high. "Well, it looks like it's your turn." She smiled and gestured for him to go ahead. He blinked for a second before shaking his head and turning to face the waitress after perusing his menu one last time.

"I'll have…. Just, scrambled eggs and toast with hash browns as a side, sorry that I don't know all of the names for the meals or anything." He chuckled as he set his menu back down.

"That's perfectly fine. I'll have your meals out to you-…. Well I was going to say shortly, but this little lady ordered quite a bit." The waitress laughed. Sera giggled with her and smiled. "I'll have them out as soon as I can." She promised before heading back to the kitchen to place the order.

"Holy hell, Sera! There's no way you'll be able to eat all of that!" He exclaimed the second the waitress was gone. Sera's expression was blank other than the single challenging brow she had risen his direction.

"The amount I ordered is nothing more than an appetizer normally. I was going easy on your wallet. I'm trying to show you why I need to pay for my own meals." She said, completely serious.

"Okay, no offense, but if that is tiny for you, then how are you so skinny?" He demanded.

"My metabolism is just really, really, _really_ high. It has to do with my magic." She shrugged.

"Good god, I've never heard of that. You're not a Dragon Slayer, right?"

"Nope, not a Dragon Slayer." She shook her head and picked up her glass to take a drink while Gray frowned. The way she'd said it, the way she'd phrased the words had perplexed him. She'd put emphasis on the word dragon.

"Are you saying you're some other type of slayer then?" He asked. She tapped her nose in a sign for yes, and took another drink of her milk. "The only other kind of Slayer I've ever heard of is a god slayer." He frowned again when she shook her head.

"Think the other direction." Sera corrected.

"Other direction?"

"Gods reside in the heavens, so think about the downstairs inhabitants. " She suggested. It took him a second but then after a moment of contemplation his eyes widened.

"Devil Slayer? That's a thing!?" He exclaimed.

"You're close. I'm a Demon Slayer." She told him.

"Demons?" His mind went to Deliora, one of Zeref's demons that had decimated his entire village up north.

"Yes. I'm the only one I know of though." She shrugged.

"Did you learn it from a book or….?"

"No I learned it from a demon." She said.

"An actual demon!?"

"Shh! Jeez, you're just as bad as Kaia when I told her that I had killed a demon—"

"You've killed a demon!?"

"Mavis, be quiet!" She hissed, looking around. Luckily no one else had come into the diner and only the one waitress was working. She was still in the back or somewhere else.

"You killed a demon?" Gray whispered.

"Yes, Demon _Slayer_, it's kind of the entire point isn't it? To use the magic to slay demons?" She huffed quietly. The ice mage finally noticed that she looked uncomfortable with the topic so he decided to drop it. Somewhat anyway.

"So…. What kind of demon taught you? And what kind of attacks do you have?" He wondered, trying to sound more casual and less like he was in unbelievable shock.

"I learned from a Kitsune, or fire fox." She shrugged. "And I have several fire attacks. I can encase my hands, feet, basically my entire body in fire. And I can breathe fire. I can eat it as well." She shrugged.

"Oh, cool. What color are your flames?" He wondered.

"Blue."

"Blue?"

"Yes. Hell Fire is blue." She nodded.

"That's what your fire is called? Hell Fire?"

"Yup. Fox Demon's Hell Fire." She lifted her hand onto the table and opened up her fist slowly. A small flame sparked in her palm and then blue fire rose up from it. Gray watched it in surprise.

"I can feel the heat from here." He muttered in awe.

"Yeah, Hell Fire is incredibly hot, way hotter than any normal flames." She nodded, letting the fire go out as she closed her hand again and took her hand from the table.

"I'm sorry if I'm prying into things that you're uncomfortable with, this is all just really fascinating because I never knew your kind of magic existed." He said, shaking his head slightly. Sera shrugged and offered a small smile.

"I don't really mind, trust me I wouldn't be answering your questions if I didn't want to tell you. You can ask what you want and I'll answer what I'm comfortable with, if you'd like anyways."

"Alright….. Hmmm…. What should I ask?" He wondered aloud to himself. Sera waited patiently for him to form a question and continued drinking her milk until it was gone. "Alright so….. Would you explain how exactly all this came to be? How you ended up learning Demon Slayer magic from an actual demon?" He asked.

"Sure, I don't mind telling you that." She smiled and shifted in the booth to get into a slightly more comfortable position. "I come from a village in the far south, and my people used to worship a demon named Feira, but as years passed times changed. They stopped worshipping her in favor of worshipping God. Feira didn't exactly like that of course and finally she'd had enough so she decided to burn down my village. I was four when it happened. I remember stumbling around, I remember people screaming, and I remember the pain in my feet and throat as I stepped on burned earth, and inhaled the ashes of burning buildings and bodies. Feira found me of course, this pink hair really sticks out. She decided to keep me alive, she adopted me and taught me her magic." She sat back when she was finished and Gray frowned.

"So…. What happened after that? What happened to Feira? Why are you here alone?" He asked. Sera's expression darkened.

"She…. She died." She frowned.

"How?"

"I think our food is coming." She deflected, making the raven haired man turn to the kitchen doors as the waitress and one of the cooks came out. Their hands were full with trays holding plates upon plates of food. Sera shifted in her seat again and rubbed her hands together in anticipation as she eyed the food coming towards her. Soon the table was covered by the meals and the waitress smiled, telling them to enjoy their food. The second she was gone Sera picked up the plate closest to her and grabbed a fork to dig in. Gray watched as she devoured the contents of the plate—and also managed to still look lady like while doing it. All in under a minute. She set the plate down on a bare corner of the table and picked up the next plate, eating it in the same way she had consumed the first plate.

Gray was too surprised by how quickly and calmly she was eating to even realize his food was on the table as well until Sera had finished half of her order and paused to look up at him. She rose a brow and glance down to his side of the table—which was also dominated by her food—before looking back up at him.

"Are you going to eat or sit and watch me the entire time?" She wondered. He jolted slightly, and looked down to his plate before looking back up at her.

"Sorry." He said as he grabbed up a fork and speared one of his scrambled eggs. Sera giggled and shook her head.

"I'm not bothered by it, I just didn't want your food to get cold is all. I'm used to people staring at me when I eat." She shrugged. "I mean the staff of this place are looking at me through the kitchen window right now." She laughed lightly and picked up her next plate.

"Well, yeah but I feel bad. Ur always told me it wasn't polite to stare at other people." He shrugged.

"Ur was….?"

"My mentor. She taught me Ice-Make magic." At this Sera nodded.

"Oh, alright. Well, like I said. I'm used to it. Actually, I've seen much stranger looks from people because of how much I eat." She recalled before shrugging again and digging into her food. Gray resisted the urge to watch her again and instead he looked down at his plate and began eating his own food.

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><p><strong>WEEEEEEEEEEE So, I hope you enjoyed this long awaited chapter, and I hope it wasn't as bad as I feel it was. REVIEW and tell me how I did with it, yeah? Please? If you love me? ANYWAYS!<strong>

**UNTIL NEXT TIME MY LOVELIES!**

**A.~**


	4. The Fox

**Hello again my lovelies! So sorry for the wait! School is **_**STILL**_** crazy as ever and I absolutely despise the fact that it is keeping me from you lovely people, but unfortunately if I ever want to have a successful career as a writer/author then I need to finish school. Therefore it comes before the actual writing. As twisted as **_**that**_** is.**

**I could NOT come up with a title for this chapter, so I'm just gonna leave it as chapter four. Haha!**

**OHMIGOSH GUYS! I'm honestly surprised that I haven't gotten completely flamed for my stories. Honestly, I've only ever had one bad review and that was for Dragon's Heart, and that's it! It gives me hope that you all genuinely love my writing and it gives me so much confidence, just cause OMG you guys seem to like it! And It tickles me pink! I just wanna take a moment to thank you all so much because without you these stories wouldn't exist. LOL and now it sounds like I'm dying or something, but I just decided to look at my stories and realized that a lot of people wrote really nice reviews and I wanted to acknowledge all of them.**

**Also! I've decided that, yes. They have TV's here. Shhhh just accept it.**

**Anywhoodle, let's get on with it, shall we!?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything directly related to Fairy Tail, I only wish I was brilliant enough to come up with that idea on my own.**

**Enjoy!~**

**A.~**

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><p><em>Previously on Warm My Heart<em>

_"Ur was….?"_

_"My mentor. She taught me Ice-Make magic." At this Sera nodded._

_"Oh, alright. Well, like I said. I'm used to it. Actually, I've seen much stranger looks from people because of how much I eat." She recalled before shrugging again and digging into her food. Gray resisted the urge to watch her again and instead he looked down at his plate and began eating his own food._

"I still can't believe that even though you had four times as much food to eat, you somehow finished way before me." Gray muttered, shaking his head in disbelief as he walked beside the pinkette. She laughed and shrugged. "How did you eat _that_ fast and _not_ get a stomach ache?" He wondered. She shrugged again and giggled some more. It was quite late by the time they left the diner, probably around one or so was Sera's guess since they were the only ones on the street.

"I don't know, I just do. I could probably eat faster than that if I really tried." She joked, and watched as his mouth dropped open. "I was kidding." She said after a moment. Gray realized he must have looked stupid, gaping at her yet again, and quickly closed his mouth.

"Oh." He said, composing himself to show a cool outer façade. The complete opposite of how he felt internally. He was at war with himself over the the girl walking next to him. He wanted to stay away from her but at the same time he wanted to get to know her more, he wanted to be closer to her. It was so confusing and frustrating and he hadn't even known her that long!

"Anyways….. Anything else you wanted to do?" Sera asked as things fell quiet.

"I dunno, is there anything you'd like to…." He trailed off when he saw her yawn. "Nah, let's just go home. I'm kind of tired, and obviously so are you." He chuckled. Sera gave him a sheepish smile and nodded.

"Yeah, sorry, I tend to get sleepy after a meal." She mumbled.

"Yeah, probably your body wanting to sleep off all the calories you ate." He teased. She blushed and laughed as she thought about it.

"It's a possibility. But if I don't sleep, I'll be hungry again in a couple hours, so I'll just go back to the apartment and sleep. Don't want to eat you out of all your money." She giggled. He scoffed.

"Even with the amount you ordered, I still have plenty of money so don't worry about it." He promised. She shook her head.

"Oh, I'm going to worry about it. Gray you're already letting me stay at your place, I'm invading your personal space too much already, and I refuse to use all your money as well. I feel guilty enough without the added guilt of my food bill. There is no way I'm letting you continue to pay for me. In fact, I'm going to start paying you, for room and board and all that stuff." She decided.

"I won't accept it, and I'll make sure we go out for every meal that way I can make sure that I'll get the check." He warned. Sera groaned.

"I'll leave then." She threatened.

"And sleep on the street? No offense but you don't practice magic anymore for some unknown reason so you can't go on missions, and how much does waitressing at the guild pay exactly? I don't think you have enough for a house yet." He muttered. Sera frowned.

"Then I'll get a second job." She reasoned. Gray shook his head.

"Is staying with me really that bad? Do I snore?" He joked.

"Well, you do but it's not staying with you that's the issue. The issue is the fact that you want to do absolutely everything for me and I don't want to mooch off of you any more than I have. Gray I refuse to let you do all of this stuff for me if I can't either pay you back or pay for myself somehow." She huffed.

"You really feel that strongly about this?" He asked.

"Yes." she said with a firm nod.

"Alright, fine. I'll let you pay for your own meals." He sighed.

"Thank you." She smiled in triumph while Gray grumbled to himself. "You're already being too much of a gentleman, Gray." She assured him. He looked up in surprise.

"You heard that?" He asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I have the hearing of a fox." She laughed.

"Oh."

"Yeah." They fell into silence once again, but neither seemed to mind the lull in the conversation. They walked, side by side, down the streets of Magnolia in the comfortable quiet.

When they turned the corner Gray decided that he wanted to know more about her magic. "So…. About your magic." He started. Sera looked over to him and rose a brow for him to continue. "Why do you not practice anymore?" He wondered. Sera hesitated in answering.

"It's unstable. And….." She paused and frowned.

"And?" Gray prompted.

"I killed a demon." She mumbled.

"So? They're evil, demons should be killed, we need more Demon Slayers if you ask me." He muttered. Sera glared at the ground at that comment.

"You have no idea what you're talking about." She shook her head and began walking faster.

"What do you mean?" Gray asked, jogging to catch up to her. For a short girl she sure could walk fast.

"Demons shouldn't be killed." She mumbled.

"Of course they should be! They're evil." He scoffed. She stopped abruptly and whirled on him. Her glare was hellish and put out more heat than her fire.

"Like I said, you have no idea what you're saying!" She snapped. "Not all of them are evil, Gray!"

"Are you talking about Feira? Because by the sound of it she was plenty evil! Your people didn't give her attention so she slaughtered them and took you as her prize! That sounds like any monster I've ever heard of. Demons are vile creatures that need to be kill—"

_SMACK!_

Gray's head whipped to the side with the force behind the slap, and he went wide eyed in shock as his hand came up to touch his now stinging cheek. Slowly he lifted his head to look at Sera and found her rigid with anger and intense heat radiating from her. Her head was down and her hands were clenched into tight fists at her sides.

"Don't you ever, _ever_ talk about Feira that way. You didn't know her, so how could _you_ possibly pass judgment on her. The people of my village were fools to worship her, forget her, and think that there wouldn't be consequences. Not only did they not pay attention to her as their deity, they shunned her. She saved me, Gray. I was an orphan before she took me in. My parents didn't _want_ me. In my village, orphans are looked down on as pests. People hated us because we begged for scraps and other basic necessities like it was our fault we were abandoned. When she attacked my village, I was scared that I was going to be even more alone, and she rescued me from that. From all of it. She loved me, and cared for me like there was nothing else she'd rather do than help me grow. I loved her because she was my mother, the only mother I have ever known. So for you to call her a monster is like me spitting on your parents' graves." She said quietly. With that she turned and waked down the street, leaving Gray staring after her and regretting everything he'd said to her.

He felt sick to his stomach with guilt when he realized that he'd seriously hurt her feelings, so he raced to catch up with her. He reached out and grabbed her hand, making her spin around to face him. His guilt doubled when he saw the tears in her eyes. He pulled her towards him and hugged her to his chest.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled. And then he grunted when her fist connected with his ribs. It wasn't enough to seriously injure him, but it still hurt a little.

"That's what you get for saying all that stuff." She mumbled. He nodded.

"I deserve it." He agreed.

"And more." She huffed, pulling away to frown up at him. "But I'll go easy on you this time." She grinned. He blinked in surprise, was she really cheerful again that quickly or just faking it? He had to tread carefully now, because he was unsure if he would set her off again.

"Thanks." He chuckled. "And, really. I'm sorry." He mumbled. She shook her head.

"I understand why you would feel that way, a Demon destroyed your village too. I was the one that blew up. I could have tried talking before I moved to screaming at you. It's my fault." She shrugged.

"Oh no, you're not putting the blame on yourself. I should have just kept my mouth shut." Gray insisted. Sera laughed.

"Are you really trying to fight me about our fight?" She asked. Gray thought for a second and then chuckled as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

"I guess I am." He admitted. "Here, how about this. We have equal blame in the situation? Just to stop another fight." He offered. Sera pondered for a second, tilting her head from side to side.

"Yeah, alright." She agreed and stuck her hand out. "And now I'm calling for a truce." She smiled when he rose an eyebrow at her hand. He smiled, shook his head, and then took her hand in his, shaking it.

"Let's head home, cause now I'm getting tired." He chuckled.

"Well then, I'll have to meet you at the apartment later, I'm kinda wound up now, and I'd like to go for a walk to cool down." She admitted. Gray frowned.

"Well….. Be careful." He said in concern. She smiled and nodded.

"I will. I'll seeya back home." She promised before turning at the next corner. He paused and watched her walk down the street for a moment before he sighed and continued heading home.

He was nearly to his apartment when her parting words gave him cause to stop. She'd called his apartment her home. It made him smile for reasons he'd rather not dwell on.

O~O~O~O

The next morning the Ice Mage woke up to a ball of heat curled up against his side. Groaning lowly he rubbed his eyes and looked down to see Sera next to him. One hand was resting on the pillow—his pillow he noted—by her head, and the other was on his stomach. Sighing, he lifted her hand from him carefully and got out the bed.

"I really need to get this stupid habit under control." He grumbled absently when he realized that he was only in his boxers even though he was certain he'd gone to bed wearing a t-shirt and sweat pants.

"I dunno. I know a lot of girls that would be sorely disappointed if you stopped taking your clothes off all the time." Sera's groggy voice teased, making him jump in surprise. He chuckled as her statement finally registered in his brain and shook his head as he grabbed his sweats off the floor and tugged them on.

"I thought you were asleep." He smiled a little sheepishly. Sera rolled over in the bed and sat up with a stretch and yawn.

"You moved my hand and it woke me up. I should be upset. I was having a rather good dream and that's pretty rare." She muttered as she rubbed sleepily at her eyes.

"Sorry. But me moving you shouldn't be an issue. Maybe you shouldn't be such a light sleeper." He teased.

"Your hands are cold, dude. It's not about how light or heavy I sleep," she pouted. "Which, by the way, I actually sleep pretty heavy normally." She tacked on.

"Oh sorry." Gray frowned and looked down at his hands. Sera shrugged.

"No worries. It was time to wake up anyway." She stretched her arms out over her head again and Gray's eyes were drawn to the bandages wrapping up her right arm. He tore his gaze away before she could catch him staring.

"Well, I'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick. I'll tell you when it's your turn." He offered. She nodded and he went into the bathroom to go through his morning routine quickly. When he came back out he couldn't find her in the bedroom so he dressed quickly before heading out to look for her.

"Hey, bathroom's yours." He said when he found her on the couch, looking at his TV. She was tuned in to a news station and the main story was covering a strange creature roaming the forest outside Magnolia.

_"We'll now show you this clip, taken by Mr. John Salvitore."_ The lady anchor said. The image cut out and suddenly the TV was filled with shaky video feed. By the sounds it was obvious someone was running or excited as they were panting and then as the camera moved up, Gray and Sera both sucked in a breath. Only Sera's gasp was followed by an equally rushed exhale of "_shit!_" as she stood up.

On the screen there stood a giant Kitsune, made entirely of blue fire. It's nine tails were fanned out behind it, and it stood perfectly still in the middle of a small clearing with its head raised to stare into the sky. The man taking the video must have been trying to step closer because the sound of a twig breaking made the fox go rigid as its head snapped over to the camera. Bright red eyes glared with an animal like florescence. And then in seconds it leapt into the air. The camera tried to follow it and finally it focused in time to see the Kitsune jumping around in the trees to run away.

_"And there you have it, a Kitsune in Magnolia. We'll go over safety precautions right after this bre-"_ Sera grabbed the remote and turned off the tv with a growl.

"Safety precautions!" She scoffed.

"Yeah, who needs them when we've got a Demon Slayer." Gray teased. "If it turns out to be bad you can just slay it right?" He chuckled. She shook her head and turned to him.

"That would be rather difficult considering I'd have to fight myself." She muttered. The ice mage frowned.

"Say what?" He asked.

"That fox was me Gray. I didn't think I'd have to tell you, but now I need to explain huh?" She sighed and placed a hand up to her forehead to rub while she muttered to herself about stupid boys with cameras.

"I'm really confused." The raven haired man muttered to bring her back to the present.

"Right, sorry. My Demon Slayer magic grants me an ability on top of the fire magic attacks I can use to slay demons. I'm able to transform into a Kitsune. That fire fox demon you just saw on the news? That was me." She waited for his reaction and watched him blink once twice, three times.

"Oh. Okay. Why didn't you just tell me?" He asked, remaining as cool as a cucumber.

"Um…. I thought you'd freak out. You're not freaked out?"

"No. It seems plausible." He shrugged. "Anyways, the bathroom is yours." He said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder to indicate aforementioned room. It was Sera's turn to blink. "What?" He asked.

"You're not gonna ask anything? Like, say, I dunno, if I'll transform so you can see it?" She frowned.

"Nah, not really. If you wanna show me, cool but unless you're specifically offering then I won't ask. I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable." He shrugged. "Want some pancakes for breakfast or eggs?" He asked next. Sera blinked again and then shook her head with a smile.

"Pancakes." She laughed lightly.

"Alright. How many do you want?"

"Two dozen oughta do it." She said teasingly.

"Do you seriously want that much?"

"Can you seriously make that much?" She countered.

"I can, if you're serious." He nodded.

"Then yes please!" She smiled. He chuckled and watched as she skipped passed him to head into the bedroom. Then he went to the kitchen to get started on the pancakes.

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><p><strong>Short chapter, I know. Sorry. But better short than nothing right? Right!<strong>

**Anyways, REVIEW and tell me what you think, because I always love hearing from you!**

**UNTIL NEXT TIME MY LOVELIES!**

**A.~**


	5. The Miracle of Life

**ELLO MY LOVELIES! How are you guys doing today? If you're doing good, GREAT! Let's make the day even better by reading this chapter! If your day isn't going so well then hopefully this will brighten things up!**

**Man I'm cranking these puppies out huh? It's only cause I'm on winter break. (thank GOD for winter break just sayin)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

**Enjoy!~  
><strong>

**A.~**

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><p><em>Previously on Warm My Heart<em>

_"Can you seriously make that much?" She countered._

_"I can, if you're serious." He nodded._

_"Then yes please!" She smiled. He chuckled and watched as she skipped passed him to head into the bedroom. Then he went to the kitchen to get started on the pancakes._

Now…

"Gray! Hurry up, Natsu can only stall Kaia for so long and I would like to get there before she does!" Sera huffed.

"I know, I know, I'm coming I promise." He said as he tried to find where his shirt went.

"It's in here with your jacket!" She called from the living room as if she could read his mind. He rushed in seconds later and swiped his shirt which was dangling from one of the pinkette's fingers. Sera had been staying with Gray for about a month now, and people at the guild had started a 'secret' betting pool on whether or not they were dating, would start dating soon, or were already secretly married. Sera learned about it from Kaia and was embarrassed to say the least. She also made sure that Gray never caught wind of it.

"What would I do without you?" He teased when he tugged his shirt over his head. Sera got distracted by the sight of his abs for a second because the shirt was _snug_ to say the least as he pulled it over his stomach, but the ruffling of her hair brought her back to the present and she made a noise of protest as she smacked his hand away.

"Mmm…. Crash and burn." She joked. He chuckled and adjusted his shirt while she bent down and set the gift bags on the floor. She leaned over to see the small mirror beside the door and fixed her hair, which was styled into a low pony and secured with a green ribbon at the nape of her neck. The ribbon matched the color of her scarf which was ever present, wrapped around her neck. When she'd made sure her hair was fixed she picked the gift bags back up and pointed to where Gray's jacket had gone.

"So what did we get them?" He asked as he grabbed his jacket and pulled that on.

"You got them some gender-neutral baby clothes and you also made them that super cute mobile to hang over the crib. I can't believe you found a way to create ice that doesn't melt and isn't actually all that cold." Sera told him, looking into the bag.

"It took me a couple of months, and thanks for the visual aid. The drawing really helped me out when I was trying to figure out what to put on it." He muttered. "Oh, and _we_ got them gender-whatever clothes." He added as he put his shoes on. Sera rolled her eyes.

"No, _you_ did. I only put your name on the card so ha." She smiled. Gray frowned.

"Sera…"

"Gray…" She countered in the same exasperated tone.

"We talked about this."

"No, you talked. I refused after you were finished. I'm not taking credit for your gift—"

"That _you_ picked out—"

"That used _your_ money—"

"That _you_—…. Uh…. Crap." He muttered trying to think of something. Sera laughed and handed him the bags.

"Calm down. These are your gifts. I got them something of my own." She smiled. "Now, let's go or we really will be late." She urged him. He sighed in exasperation and allowed her to push him through the door. She closed and locked it behind her before heading over to the stairs with Gray on her heels.

"So, what did you get them?" He asked as they walked out of the building.

"Well…. I made it technically. And it's two things." She smiled. "One of them, Kaia and Natsu know about but haven't seen. The other is a surprise." She smiled.

"If we have time when we get to the guild, I wanna see them."

"With how slow you were to get ready this morning, I'll be surprised if the baby shower hasn't already finished, let alone started." She joked. He narrowed his eyes at her playfully and poked her in the side. She yelped and he smirked in victory. He'd learned she was ticklish on her sides about two weeks after coming home from his mission. They had gotten really close in the month they'd lived together, and they found that they had many common interests. Like movies and books and TV shows. The month had been a little hard on Gray, but only because he found himself getting more and more attracted to her the more he got to know her. He almost wished she'd save up enough money to buy her own house already. Almost.

"Finally you guys showed up! We were beginning to wonder—"

"Where do you want us to put the gifts Mira?" The ice mage asked before the take-over mage could embarrass Sera by bringing up that stupid betting pool that Gray pretended not to know about.

"You can put them on that table over there." She pointed. Both Gray and Sera turned and froze when they saw the mountain of gifts.

"Oh holy….." Gray breathed.

"Sweet Feira…." Sera whispered.

"So many presents." They mumbled together.

"They're almost here!" Rose flew into the guild to announce.

"Everyone get ready!" Lucy called out. The guild fell into its usual routine and Gray and Sera hurriedly put their gift bags among the others before heading to sit at a table. Well, the ice mage sat with the Demon Slayer started helping Mira and Kinana.

Kaia and Natsu walked into the guild hall and everyone turned, shouting out "Surprise!" to the Water Dragon Slayer. The bluenette blinked in shock and took in the sight before her. Pink and blue streamers were hung all over the place, and a couple tables pushed together held a giant stack of presents and gift bags.

"What….. What's going on?" Kaia asked as Lucy bounced to a stop before her and Natsu.

"We threw you a surprise baby shower!" The blonde smiled. "It's gonna be tons of fun, we're going to play some games, and then you're going to open the gifts."

"Oh….." The water mage covered her mouth with a hand as tears came to her eyes. "Thank you guys." She sniffled. "This means so much to me, you have no idea." She said as she tried not to burst into tears. Sera came up, balancing a tray with a plate and glass on it, she held out her free hand to the bluenette and smiled.

"We got you a table all ready, and Mira and Kinana prepared your favorite meal. There's cake too. C'mon, let's get this party started." She said. Kaia took her hand and the pinkette led her over to an empty table. As the bluenette sat down a plate containing her favorite Water Drop soup was set before her, along with a glass of ice water. "Just relax, and have fun. And if your back starts giving you any trouble, let me know." Sera smiled. They'd learned that the girl gave the best massages ever as she could discreetly warm her hands up as she rubbed her 'patient's' back.

"I will. Thank you so much."

"Don't thank me, I didn't come up with the idea. Lucy, Erza, and Wendy did." Sera said, pointing to the three girls, who waved. Kaia waved back and listened as they began announcing the rules for the first game.

O~O~O~O

"Next gift is from…. Gray." Lucy announced.

"This one is too. Do you want them both one after another?" Erza asked.

"Sure, makes it easier." Kaia smiled.

"Alright, here you go." Both girls handed her the gift bags and Kaia set one down beside her chair as she dug a hand into the first one and pulled out the tissue paper.

"Gray, who knew you could gift wrap." Kaia teased as she took out a wrapped box. The ice mage shook his head quickly.

"No way, Sera did it." He chuckled. "It would have been in a brown paper bag had I tried to wrap it." He admitted. Everyone chuckled and giggled at that.

"Well, you did well Sera." Kaia complimented, looking at the wrapping.

"Thanks. Can't wait for you to destroy it." Sera teased as she came by with drinks. Everyone laughed and Kaia smiled before purposefully ripping through the paper. It earned a couple more chuckles from the way she'd done it. She'd stared at Sera and then lifted the wrapped box before ripping the paper apart. The pinkette smiled and shook her head before heading back to the kitchen to get more food ready.

"Oh, Gray! These are so cute!" Kaia exclaimed as she held up a little outfit.

"Once again it was—"

"Sure was surprising, who knew he could shop!" Sera called over the Ice-Make mage. He sent her a teasing glare and she blew him a kiss jokingly before bumping her hip into the door and going into the kitchen. She came out about fifteen minutes later with Chili powder covered ramen for Natsu and some triple chocolate ice cream for Kaia, along with a couple plates for others as well on two trays balancing on her single arm. Kaia was still thanking Gray for the beautiful mobile he'd created, and she was wiping away tears. Sera reached into the apron she wore around her waist and pulled out a couple tissues. Kaia laughed and thanked her for the tissues and the ice cream. Sera simply gave her a friendly side hug before passing Natsu's snack to him and then passing out the other meals.

"Next up is Sera's gift." Lucy announced as she came forward with another bag. The pinkette tried to duck back into the kitchen but Gray grabbed her by the collar of her jacket and plopped her back on her feet in front of him, ignoring her protests.

"Gray, I've gotta work!" Sera whined when she tried to leave and her grabbed her collar again.

"No one is gonna bother you while I'm opening your gift. I want to be able to thank you the second I open it." Kaia assured her. The pinkette pouted and ducked her head to try and hide her blushing.

"I don't wanna be here when you open it though." She pouted.

"Why not?" Natsu asked as Kaia began digging through the tissue paper concealing her gift.

"Oh goodness, it's soft!" Kaia gasped as she took the bag away and put the blanket in her lap. Sera shrugged.

"I tried to find the softest clothe I could in the store." She said as Kaia took in the cute little patchwork blanket. "It's patch worked so you can add more squares or whatever as the baby grows." She said, feeling self-conscious when the Dragon Slayer just stared at it.

"You were working on this in the guild a couple times when you had a day off. Wait…. Sera did you…. Did you make this for _us_?" Kaia asked. The younger girl fidgeted in her spot before nodding. "Oh my…. This is amazing. Thank you." Kaia whispered, stroking the blanket. She lifted it to show Natsu but pause when she felt the weight. "What's in here?" She asked, testing the weight. She unfolded the blanket carefully and then gasped as she took in the picture frame before her.

"I'm sorry it's not super fancy. I only had a pencil. I hope it looks okay." Sera said quickly and watched nervously as the bluenette raised a hand to her mouth.

"Sera this is…." Kaia shook her head as tears came to her eyes.

"What is it?"

"Yeah, show us!" A couple people in the guild called, growing restless as they were unable to see. Natsu looked over Kaia's shoulder and paused for a second as surprise made his eyes widen.

"Whoa, Sera this is really good!" The rose haired man complimented as he took the picture frame and turned it so the guild could see. It was a detailed drawing of Natsu and Kaia sitting in the guild, surrounded by their friends while Natsu held Kaia's stomach from behind. Her hands were placed over his and they were smiling at each other in the picture.

"I saw you guys like that one day while I was working, and well I have a photographic memory so I started working on this. It's nothing special but—" Kaia brushed the gift bag and tissue paper aside and set the blanket in her seat as she stood and rushed forward to hug the pinkette, who stood frozen in shock at the quick movement.

"It's beautiful, thank you so much." Kaia sobbed. Sera panicked and hugged her back quickly.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry!" She exclaimed. Kaia laughed and shook her head as she pulled back.

"I'm just crying because I'm so happy. It's beautiful Sera, thank you so much. But next time, add yourself in too okay?" She requested. The Demon Slayer smiled.

"Sure." She nodded. "As long as you don't cry next time." She joked.

"Deal." Kaia agreed. "I'll try anyways." She laughed. And then her laugh turned into a gasp for both girls. One of Kaia's hands shot down to her stomach as she winced in pain and Sera cringed as Kaia's other hand grabbed her right arm tightly, her nails digging into her skin.

"Kaia!" Natsu exclaimed in alarm as the bluenette doubled over and cried out. "Kaia what's wrong?" He asked quickly.

"I-I don't know!" She gasped. Sera yelped as her hand got tighter.

"Sera!" Gray rushed forward but the pinkette waved him off and ignored her own pain to help Natsu get Kaia to sit down.

"Kaia tell me what you're feeling." The teen demanded as she knelt in front of her.

"It—it's like a band of pain wrapping around my stomach." Kaia panted. Sera frowned.

"Breathe through it, don't fight it, just let the pain flow through you. You're experiencing a contraction. Try to take deep even breathes, it'll pass soon." She promised.

"Wh-what? But, I'm only eight months." Kaia gasped.

"That's not up to you or me to decide. Your baby is eager to greet you guys." Sera smiled tensely before turning to pin Natsu with a determined stare. "Get her to the infirmary. Mira! I need you to get me a big pot full of boiling water. Gray, Lucy, Erza, you guys are in charge of magic reduction. Wendy, go with Natsu and start healing Kaia, she's going to need it."

"What are you gonna do?" Gray asked as everyone else jumped to follow her commands. Sera clenched her hands into fists and headed out the back of the guild doors.

"I'm going to go get Porlyusica. I would send Jet but he's on a mission."

"Can you run pretty fast?"

"Not in this form." She sighed. She looked around behind the guild and when she confirmed that it was just her and Gray she tugged her sweater over her head and tossed it to the side.

"Wh-what are you doing!?" Gray exclaimed before whirling around.

"I'd rather not burn all my clothes off." She huffed. Her heard a ripping sound and then her shredded bandages were tossed into his line of sight. "Watch my clothes, and get to using that magic." She demanded.

"Wait! It takes magic to transform right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Here, you use it." He said giving her his cuff without looking. "It'll mold to whatever it's on so it shouldn't break when you transform." He told her.

"Alright. Once again, watch my clothes. Find warren and keep me posted." She said.

"Okay." He nodded firmly. And then there was an animalistic snarl as Sera let the beast take over. By the time Gray turned back around to try and see her fox form she was already gone, leaving burned paw prints in her wake.

* * *

><p>Sera gouged her claws into the ground and snarled instinctively as she pushed herself as fast as she could go through the forest. Animals quivered in nearby bushes but she paid no attention to the creatures as she curved and zigzagged around trees, heading for Porlyusica's house.<p>

_"Sera, can you hear me?"_ Gray's voice echoed in her head.

_"I can hear you."_ She promised. _"What's going on? How far apart at the contractions, how painful are they?"_ She asked.

_"According to Kaia their right on time, so far things are progressing slowly like she says they should."_

_"Good, that's good."_ Sera breathed a slight sigh of relief. _"I've made it to Porlyusica's."_ She informed him as she changed back into her human form. She knocked on the door and didn't bother coving herself as the elderly healer opened the door. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the stare of Sera's wounds.

"Before you say anything what's going on with me isn't important, _trust me_. Kaia went into early labor and I'm here to take you back. Once again, you'll have to trust me." She demanded.

"Alright. How do you plan to get us there?"

"That's why I'm saying, _trust_." Sera stressed. With a nod from the older pinkette the teen turned back into the nine tailed fox demon. Using two of her tails she scooped the healer up and set her on her back, making sure the fire wasn't present, she was just very warm and covered in blue fur.

"So you're the Kitsune on the news?"

"Yes." Sera nodded. _"Gray, I've got her. I'm heading back now."_ She informed him. "Porlyusica, you might wanna grab on tight."

"Grab what?"

"My fur. It won't hurt me, don't worry. Just hold tight." She waited to feel the tug before she took off, heading back the way she'd come, moving even faster than before if it were possible. Using her tails she created a sort of fire boost that had her moving more lightly over the forest floor.

_"Okay, hurry because Kaia sounds like she's dying in there."_ Gray muttered. Sera laughed.

_"You can talk about the sounds she's making when you go through labor."_ She snorted and jumped over a low branch on a tree. "Sorry Porlyusica." She said as an afterthought when she remembered that the poor woman was probably being jostled to high heaven.

"It's alright. Just get me to my patient." She replied. Sera gave a grunt of approval and snarled when she scented a nearby mountain lion. The cat took off in the opposite direction and she bared her teeth in that form's version of a grin as she lengthened her strides to cover more ground.

_"Almost there, Gray."_

"_I'll be outside waiting with your clothes."_ He promised. She broke through the tree line and skid to a halt, fishtailing a little so she didn't slam head first into the back of the guild. She lowered to the ground and Gray helped Porlyusica off after setting Sera's clothes down for her.

"I'll make sure no one comes outside." Gray promised. Sera nodded her thanks and he and Porlyusica went inside. She shifted back and tossed her clothes on, glad she'd chosen a long sleeved top that morning. Once shew was dressed, she went back into the guild and heard Kaia's cries coming from the infirmary. Porlyusica came out a couple seconds later and looked around at the guild members.

"Who here has any experience with being a mid-wife or the birthing process?" She asked sharply.

"I've helped deliver a few babies." Sera said, stepping forward.

"You're hurt child—"

"I'm perfectly fine." She insisted.

"Alright, fine. I need one more person."

"I've had a baby?" Bisca rose her hand. The abrasive healer gave her an appraising look before nodding.

"You'll do I suppose. Do what I tell you and nothing more." She demanded.

"Right." Both girls nodded and then followed her down the hall. Gray watched as Lucy and Erza and Rose came back into the main part of the guild as Sera disappeared down the hall.

"So, now what?" Lucy asked.

"Now….. We wait, I guess." Erza shrugged. Everyone let out a collective sigh.

O~O~O~O

Nearly eighteen hours later, amidst screams from Kaia about how she would never let Natsu near her ever again, a shrill cry rang out. Gray had been on the verge of sleep when the little wail jerked him awake. He shot to his feet, along with Lucy and Erza, and headed down the hall to check in on them. Sera opened the door just as he reached it and slipping into the hallway. She looked tired and a little pale, but she was smiling.

"It's a girl." She told them. The three began cheering but Sera hushed them quickly. "She's being cleaned up right now, and after that Natsu will bring her out to show you guys, but Kaia's very tired and the last thing she needs is more screaming. Don't tell anyone, Natsu will be out soon." She promised. "I have to go back in and help clean up and take care of Kaia. But guys….. She's so cute!" She giggled. The trio smiled and nodded to her instructions and headed back out to the few people still left in the guild.

A little bit Later Natsu came out of the mouth of the hallway, and he was carrying a small pink bundle in his arms. He shushed everyone quickly, which everyone found ironic, and then one at a time introduced them to his daughter, starting with Makarov. They went down the line, and Gray fidgeted, mad that everyone had beat him to the line. He was the last person to see the new baby. And when he stepped up, Natsu didn't look at him like a rival. His expression held nothing but the pride of a new father.

"Hey, man, congratulations." Gray said quietly. Natsu nodded in thanks and the ice mage glanced down to the little face hidden in the blanket. He'd never admit it out loud, but the raven haired man was jealous of all that Natsu had. A wife, and now a family. He was envious. Unbidden his mind conjured up an image of a little baby with his messy dark hair being held by Sera.

_What. The. Hell?_ He shook his head quickly and focused back on the present as he shoved the image back into the back of his mind to freak out over later.

"Hey, look at this guy here, he's your uncle Gray." He cooed to the baby. "Gray, meet Kajine." Natsu smiled as he moved the blankets to show her face best. The little baby already had some fuzz on her head that matched Kaia's own shade of blue, and her eyes were dark olive green like Natsu's but she had Kaia's wide eyes.

"She's….. Wow, she's beautiful man. Congratulations, again." He said and put a hand on Natsu's shoulder as he looked down at the baby who was staring up at him with what looked like curiosity.

"Thanks. She really is awesome huh? And she was just born!" He laughed. Gray chuckled and nodded, unable to deny it.

"Hey, hey, don't hog the baby all to yourselves. I wanna see." Sera's voice scolded teasingly as she came up beside Gray. "So, did you guys decide on a name?" She asked Natsu, who nodded.

"Kajine, this is Sera. She's your auntie." He smiled.

"No I'm not, don't lie to her." Sera scoffed.

"But you are. Kaia and I both agree. Everyone in the guild is family, so you're all her aunts and uncles." The rose haired man smiled. The teen shook her head and smiled.

"Alright then in that case, awesome! I'm an aunt!" She fist pumped and then moved to lean over Natsu's shoulder to get a better look at the baby. "Hey there cutie pie! Goodness, you're gonna be a heart breaker when you grow up, aren't ya!" She cooed and wiggled her fingers in front of the little face. The baby wiggled in Natsu's arms and smiled. "God, I want kids." She sighed quietly. Gray's head whipped around to look at her in shock.

"What was that?" He asked. Natsu smirked.

"I think I should get her back to Kaia." He said to excuse himself as Sera turned to Gray.

"Okay, be careful. Kaia's sleeping and she definitely needs her rest." The pinkette warned him. He nodded, left them, and she turned back to Gray. "What were you saying?" She asked.

"What did you say?" He asked.

"What?" She looked confused.

"When you— Kajine— playing— you sighed…." He frowned. Sera frowned as well and then it dawned on her a second later and she blushed.

"Is it so bad to want kids?" She asked.

"As young as you are, yeah!" He spluttered. "You should want to go out and see the world." He said, trying to force back the image of her with _his_ child in her arms, again. Sera's scoff helped him focus.

"I've already travelled all I'll want to Gray. Trust me, I travelled with Feira constantly. And then on my own when I was wandering around. And then I found Fairy Tail and I'm content. I'm home. I don't think I'll ever want to leave. Besides, I've never been my age, you should know that by now. You tell me often enough that you forgot how young I am." She teased. "All in all, I guess I'm trying to say that I'm in a place where I can want kids. Besides, if I have kids when I'm younger it'll be easier to bounce back from it and chase after them." She giggled.

"Them?"

"Yeah. I want more than one."

"How many exactly?" He was scared to ask, thinking of Juvia and how she always had delusions of having thirty three babies.

"Nothing crazy like thirty three or something," she laughed, eerily mirroring his thoughts, "but two or three wouldn't be bad." She smiled and shrugged. "But who knows, I'm tired so maybe this is just crazy talk and I'll take it all back in the morning." She laughed and then stifled a yawn behind her hand. "Anyway, I'm ready for bed, you wanna go home?" She asked. Numbly, Gray nodded. He was too busy spacing out, thinking of his own delusion where He and Sera were chasing kids around a yard, all three of the young children a perfect mix of the two of them. He shook his head to clear it and followed Sera out of the guild quickly, trying to block any more crazy images from popping up in his tired brain. The attempts were unsuccessful of course.

He was so screwed.

* * *

><p><strong>WELL HELLO! CONGRATULATIONS FOR MAKING IT ALL THE WAY DOWN HERE!<strong>

**How did you like it? REVIEW and tell me what you think!**

**Kajine's name is pronounced Kah-jee(like the jeel in Gajeel)-neh**

**UNTIL NEXT TIME MY LOVELIES!**

**A.~**


	6. The Pocky Game

**Hi hi! How is everyone!? Hope you're doing well! Thanks for the reviews, glad you liked the last chapter! I'm still like just BAM BAM BAM! CHAPTERS EVERYWHERE! I think that it's my way of subconsciously apologizing for not posting chapters in forever and a day because of school and stuff. So I'm like flooding you all with chapters in order to make up for my absence. Who know!**

**ONTO THE STORY!**

**Disclaimer: If you're looking for the owner/creator of Fairy Tail you totally found the wrong person. ;)**

**Enjoy!~**

**A.~**

* * *

><p><em>Previously on Warm My Heart<em>

_"Anyway, I'm ready for bed, you wanna go home?" She asked. Numbly, Gray nodded. He was too busy spacing out, thinking of his own delusion where He and Sera were chasing kids around a yard, all three of the young children a perfect mix of the two of them. He shook his head to clear it and followed Sera out of the guild quickly, trying to block any more crazy images from popping up in his tired brain. The attempts were unsuccessful of course._

_He was so screwed._

Now…

Two weeks later and the entire guild was enamored with little Kajine. Everyone loved the little baby and they were all wrapped around her tiny fingers. A certain waitress seemed especially fond of the cute baby, because every spare minute she had she was found playing Peek-a-boo with the child or tickling her toes or just talking to her. People joked that Kaia and Natsu had better watch out, lest the teen make off with the child in the night.

"Oh please, if it's the middle of the night Sera can take her." Kaia joked.

"What, why?" Sera frowned.

"I love her to death, but she's a new born and she doesn't like sleeping through the night." Kaia sighed.

"Oh, well if that's your issue I know something to help with that. I have a couple remedies actually." The pinkette offered.

"What, seriously?" Kaia looked relieved. "You have to give them to me, or show me!" She exclaimed. Sera giggled.

"I will. One is a lullaby, and the other is an herbal mixture that you drink." She told her.

"Okay, but she can't drink anything but milk right now I thought?"

"No, no, it's not for her. You drink it and well, it's difficult to explain." The girl mumbled as a slight rosy hue dotted her cheeks.

"Well, can you try? I'm really confused and Natsu and I could really use some sleep."

"Alright well….. You know how you're not supposed to drink alcohol?"

"Yes because it could contaminate breast milk." Kaia nodded and so did Sera.

"Yeah, well this remedy works the same way. You drink it, an hour before Kajine's next feeding and the nutrients from the herbs will send her right off to bed-y-by land." She shrugged.

"And it won't hurt her?"

"Of course not! I wouldn't recommend it if it did! I'd never want anything to hurt my precious little niece, no." Sera cooed as she looked down at the baby that was laying in her lap and messing with her scarf.

"Then it sounds perfect. Thank you Sera really. What about the lullaby?"

"It's an enchanted song that my mother used to sing to me after I had a nightmare. It doesn't have any words, so I don't know if I could teach it to you, but I could sing it and record it on a music lacrima if you like?"

"Yes please." Kaia smiled. Sera nodded and smiled as well. She went back to playing with Kajine, dangling her scarf before her face for a little while and wiggling her fingers.

A little bit later, Kaia sighed.

"What is it?"

"It's time for her nap. I wonder if she'll stay down." She mumbled.

"I could always sing the lullaby?" Sera offered.

"How long will it put her to sleep?"

"With the small portion I'm gonna sing, it would only make her sleep for about an hour or two. Is that enough?" She asked.

"That is perfect." Kaia nodded.

"Alright." Sera nodded before smiling down at Kajine. She cleared her throat and then took in a deep breath, and then she began to sing. Her voice lilted on an 'Ooo' sound as she sang lowly. Within seconds of hearing it Kajine began to yawn and her eyelids dropped low until they closed altogether. The baby was sound asleep. Sera stopped singing and looked up to tell Kaia that she'd gotten her to fall asleep but the bluenette was passed out, draped over the table as she slept. "Uh oh." Sera quickly looked around her and noticed most of the guild was either asleep or heavily drowsy. "Ah crap, I forgot about that." She grimaced.

The guild doors opened then and Gray walked in. He took one look around and frowned.

"Sera?" He asked, noticing she was the only one coherent. "What happened?"

"Well…. I kind of sang a little bit of a lullaby that my mom used to sing to me when I couldn't sleep and it…. Kind of put everyone else to sleep. They shouldn't be out for long though. Since they're adults it'll only last about fifteen minutes with the small portion I sang." She shrugged.

"Is it enchanted or something?"

"Yeah. It's called Demon's Lullaby. Feira told me that she would sing it to my village at night back when they worshipped her, that way they'd sleep soundly through the night and be refreshed in the morning to work the fields or anything else." She shrugged. "Anyone who hears it gets either really sleepy or falls asleep." She frowned. "I forgot about that part." She winced. Gray chuckled

"Why sing it in the first place?" He wondered.

"Kajine hasn't been sleeping all that well and when she's awake you know that Kaia and Natsu are awake. And it was nap time so I offered to sing a little bit of the lullaby and well….. This happened." She gestured around her.

"Well…. That's…. Oh my god…." He he whispered looking over to a table.

"What?"

"Oh I really wish I had a camera right now!" He laughed and pointed. Sera scooped the sleeping baby into her arms and stood up to look at where he was pointing. She stifled a laugh by biting her lip as she saw Natsu passed out, cuddling with Gajeel.

"Oh my god….. This is the best thing ever!" He laughed. "Could you sing more to keep everyone asleep while I go find a camera?" He asked quickly. Sera gave him a playfully scolding look.

"No. That'd be just plain cruel." She laughed.

"Aww c'mon please! For me?" He gave her his best version of a puppy dog pout and the second Sera looked at it she flushed bright pink.

"Ah-uh…. F-fine." She stammered as she looked away from him. He fist pumped and rushed outside. The second the guild doors closed Sera sighed and began singing again as she walked around the guild with Kajine still cradled in her arms. She gently rocked the baby as she sang and smiled down at the peaceful faces around her.

Gray came back about fifteen minutes later and she stopped singing immediately. He quickly took a picture and smiled triumphantly.

"Now I have blackmailing material for both of them!" He laughed, turning to Sera. "I could kiss you right now, I love you so much!" He said as he gripped her shoulders. He watched as pink instantly rose to her cheeks.

"Wh-what?" She squeaked. Her heart was racing, secretly wishing make good on his statement and kiss her. But she watched as his eyes widened and a little bit of red rose in his face as he snatched his hands away from her like she was about to burn him.

"Ah-ha, I mean uh—" he cleared his throat awkwardly and looked away, "I love you, like a sister, ya know?" He said.

"O-oh… Right…" Sera couldn't stop her disappointment from showing in the form of a pout. Luckily Gray wasn't looking. By the time he glance back at her she managed a friendly smile. "I love you too" she giggled, "Onii-chan." Gray felt a tightness in his chest with the onii-chan she tacked on at the end. "Anyway," Sera continued, "they all should be waking up soon. I still feel bad that I put them to sleep though." She frowned.

"Don't feel bad. They're just taking little cat naps." He chuckled. "Trust me, the same thing happened every single time Mystogan showed up when he was still in the guild." He shrugged. He'd already explained about the crazy adventures of him and his friends in Edolas and things that happened on other missions. "Compared to that, this shouldn't be too big a deal." He shrugged. She nodded and smiled.

"Good then. Just don't tell them it was me." She laughed. Gray promised he wouldn't as they heard the first groans of people waking up. "Let's get away from Natsu and Gajeel before they wake up and start fighting. And pull them apart so they don't wake up cuddled. That way your blackmail is that much sweeter." Sera instructed.

"You're a dark genius aren't you?" The ice mage chuckled. She smiled innocently and he could have sworn he saw a halo being held up by devil horns on her head.

"I have no idea what you could be talking about Gray." She said in her sweetest possible voice. He laughed and shook his head as her in amusement.

O~O~O~O

It was a couple days later when Sera was off for the day that she sat with Kaia and talked. They chatted about some stuff and watched as friendly brawls broke out around the guild. They even took a couple bets, which Sera ended up winning most of the time.

Then one started between Natsu and Gray. The girls didn't bet, deciding to watch them fight instead. Half way through Kaia looked over and found Sera smiling as she stared at Gray. The bluenette got a mischievous look on her face and poked the younger girl's arm, making her brown eyes snap away from Gray.

"What?" Sera asked, when she saw her expression.

"You really like Gray don't you?" Kaia teased. The pinkette's eyes widened.

"Wha—! Pfft! Ha! N-no!" She wrinkled her nose as if the idea repulsed her and turned her head away for a second. And then she looked panicked as she whipped her head back around to face Kaia. "Is it really that obvious?" She whispered. Kaia laughed heartily and pat her on the shoulder lightly.

"Yeah. Sad to say, it kind of is." She watched as the teen hung her head in shame and groaned lowly. "What's so wrong about that? Just tell him." She laughed.

"No way in hell!" The Demon Slayer exclaimed jumping to her feet. It drew the attention of the guild, Gray and Natsu actually stopped fighting to look over at her. She squeaked in embarrassment and sat back down quickly, ducking her head to hide her blushing cheeks while Kaia laughed again.

"Why not? What's the worst that could happen?" She asked.

"Kaia! I'm seventeen!" Sera hissed.

"And? It's perfectly legal, the age of consent is seventeen in Fiore, Sera."

"I know, I looked up it." The pinkette blushed lightly. "But that's not the point. The point is, Gray freaked out when I told him. So I'm pretty sure he doesn't like the idea of me being so young. That is, if he even saw me that way." She huffed.

"Why would you think he doesn't see you that way?" Kaia frowned.

"Because I'm like a sister to him. He's told me so." She muttered.

"Just because he said that doesn't mean he feels that way. He's probably just saying it so you don't feel creeped out by an older guy liking you." The bluenette teased. Sera shook her head.

"No way, he treats me like I'm his pesky little sister."

"Has he ever seemed bothered by your presence?"

"No… Not really."

"Then he doesn't see you as his pesky little sister. In fact he doesn't see you as his little sister at all I bet." Kaia smirked. Sera shook her head.

"No, he does." She muttered.

"Wanna make it a bet?" The Dragon Slayer challenged.

"No!" Sera said quickly.

"See, then you think he likes you too."

"No! It's not that! That isn't the reason. I just don't want to get my hopes up. When I won it'd suck all that much worse." She grumbled. "Look, can we just drop it! He doesn't see me that way alright?" She huffed.

"Okay, okay, fine!" Kaia said, holding her hands up in surrender. "I'll drop it." She promised. Sera sighed in relief and was just about to start a different conversation when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and smiled with a gasp when she saw who it was.

"Sam!" She jumped up out of her seat to hug him. "Hey! I missed you! How did you mission go?" She asked excitedly as she hugged him. He hugged her back, picking her up in the process, as he chuckled. Kaia turned away to let them talk, and focused on playing with Kajine.

"It went well. I brought you back a souvenir." He smiled as he set her down and then dug into his pocket.

"I keep telling you that you don't have to get me anything." She huffed playfully.

"Well I did, no refunds or exchanges." He smiled as he pulled out the little trinket. He handed it to her and Sera gasped as she looked at the pretty necklace.

"Oh wow…" She whispered.

"It caught my eye as I passed the stand on my way out. I thought you'd like it. It's hand made." He told her.

"Sam, it's so pretty!" She smiled as she reached a finger out and touched the little glass charm. It was in the shape of a flame, but it was blue in color. The cord it hung on was made out of a pale blue cloth that felt like silk or satin. She looked up at the man before her who was rubbing his neck nervously.

"So, you really like it?" He asked.

"Yes, it's wonderful! You still shouldn't have gotten me anything, but it's so beautiful." She smiled. The cord was plenty long so Sera just slipped it over her head and let it fall into place over the middle of her chest.

"Good, I'm glad. And of course I had to get it for you. It was practically screaming your name at me." He chuckled. His blue eyes crinkled around the edges with his happiness and Sera returned the expression as she moved forward and hugged him again.

"Thanks. I really do love it." She grinned.

"I'm glad." He repeated. "I was actually scared that you might not like it, cause you never know, ya know? But I'm glad you like it, that means I did a good job." He rambled. Sera giggled and reached up on her toes to pat his brown hair.

"Of course I love it. You got it for me, why wouldn't I adore it?" She asked. He shrugged. They stood in silence for a moment before an idea popped into Sera's head. "I bet you're hungry, do you want a sandwich? I can go make you one!" She offered.

"No, no, it's your day off, you don't have to—"

"Nonsense! I'll make you a sandwich and it's on me. I insist." She smiled, and before he could protest she was heading back towards the kitchen. She was back not even ten minutes later with a sandwich on a plate for Sam. She sat him down at a table and demanded that he tell her all about his mission. Sera listened with rapt attention as he recounted his tale of trying to find a group of bandits and the resultant mess of fighting them. She laughed and smiled and nodded in all the right places and asked tons of questions when he was done. Sam answered them all one at a time and when he was done they chatted and caught up, Sera told him about the things that had happened in the guild that he'd missed. Eventually thought, they ran out of things to talk about and sat in silence for a moment.

"So, what now?" Sera wondered.

"We could play a game." Sam suggested.

"Ooo! I like games! What kind of game?" She asked eagerly. He reached into the knapsack he carried with him for the trip and pulled out a box of Pocky. "What's that?" She asked as she watched him open it and take out a chocolate dipped stick.

"It's basically a biscuit dipped in chocolate. We're gonna play the game with it." He smirked.

"What's the game called? And how do you play?"

"The game's named after the food. Pocky. What you're going to do is place the tip between your teeth and hold it there, don't let it break off." He told her. She nodded.

"What are you gonna do?" She asked as he handed her the Pocky stick.

"You'll see, just trust me it's a really fun game." He assured her. She shrugged and agreed. She did as he said and placed the stick in her mouth. She didn't have to wait long. As soon as she got the Pocky in her mouth steady and Sam made sure she didn't bite down, he placed his mouth on the other end and began to nibble as he scooted closer to her. His mouth didn't make it two centimeters closer before a pale hand karate chopped the Pocky in half, took the piece from the pinkette's mouth, and grabbed Sera's arm to pull her from the bench.

"Hey!" Sam exclaimed, glaring up at Gray in annoyance. The ice mage's glare made the boy shiver it was so cold.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The raven haired man asked.

"We were playing Pocky." Sera shrugged and pried his arm off of her. "What's the matter?" She asked when his cold look turned frigid.

"Stay the hell away from her." Gray snapped at Sam before taking Sera's hand and dragging her away from him, and out of the guild altogether.

"Gray, wha—" He tugged her into and alley and pulled her around to face him as he pointed a finger at her.

"Stay away from that punk, got it?" He growled.

"What? Sam's my friend! We were just playing a game!" She huffed.

"You don't even know how to play the sort of game he wanted to play." He scoffed.

"He was teaching me!"

"He better not teach you anything else!" Gray snapped.

"What's the problem!? It's just a stupid game! It's no big deal!" She exclaimed. Gray clenched his hand into a fist.

"Do you even know the result of that game?" He asked.

"I dunno, see who doesn't break it?" She shrugged. He scoffed out a laugh and shook his head.

"You're so naïve." He muttered. She got pissed at that and shoved him back a step.

"Well if you know, then tell me! Or better yet show me!" She challenged.

"You sure you wanna open that can of worms?" He asked. She shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine." He placed the end of the broken Pocky in his mouth and pulled her close to him by her hips, making her squeak. He turned her head to him and offered her the other end. She took the Pocky into her mouth and blushed when she realized how close it brought their faces. Gray began to nibble at his end and her blush intensified tenfold when she realized where this game was headed as his mouth got closer to hers. She jumped when his hand tightened on her hip and the jolt cause the stick to break, making it even smaller. She pulled away from him quickly.

"O-okay I get it!" She squeaked out, turning away from him so he wouldn't see her red face. "S-sorry, I won't play it with him again." She mumbled, placing her hands on her chest over her heart, as if she could calm the rapid beating of it that way.

"Good. Stay away from him."

"I'm not gonna stay away from him just because of a game. He's still my friend." She huffed.

"Clearly he doesn't want just friendship." Gray snorted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, getting annoyed.

"It means he wants inside your pants, Sera." He deadpanned. Her cheeks went pink and she looked away from him.

"You can't tell me what to do." She chose to ignore his previous statement.

"What?"

"I don't care if he wants in my pants. He's still my friend. If he asks, I'll tell him no."

"And if he doesn't listen?"

"He's not like that!" She snapped, offended that he'd think so little of her friend.

"You never know!" Gray said, throwing his hands up. Sera scoffed.

"Yeah, right. Whatever, he might like me now but I guarantee that if he caught a glimpse at my arm he'd back track like nobody's business." She gestured to the bandages on her right arm and Gray's expression softened a bit. "But before that even, I'd kick his ass with my fire." She huffed. "Trust me Gray, I took down a demon. I can defend myself just fine without any help." With that she brushed passed him and walked back to the guild.

Gray sighed and shook his head. He needed to blow off steam, so he went back to the guild and picked a fight with Natsu again.

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><p><strong>Hey guys! Sorry for the lame ending, but my creative juices for this chapter died on me at the last paragraph. I hope next chapter will be a bit better, haha.<strong>

**LOOK AT ME PLEASE! So, the "Demon's Lullaby" at the beginning of this chapter…. Well I made a really short little lullaby tune and put it up on youtube. God check it out if you want, just search Demon's Lullaby. It's a black screen and it's 0:33 seconds long. And it's me singing, or humming, or a mix of the two. (god I'm trying not to curl up into a ball and die of embarrassment and nerves!)**

**SO YEAH GO CHECK THAT OUT BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND AND TAKE IT DOWN! My channel on YouTube is Anabelle Love so there's another way to know if you've got the right one.**

**Anyways….. REVIEW! Tell me what you thought of the chapter because I love getting the feedback from you guys!**

**UNTIL NEXT TIME MY LOVELIES!**

**A.~**


	7. Movie Night

**Hello my lovelies! It's good to see your beautiful faces again! Sorry for the kiss tease in the last chapter, but I couldn't make them give in **_**too**_** soon. I hope you all understand.**

**Also, sorry for my absence over this break, my internet decided to be a major $$hole to me and just not work even through it said it **_**was**_** working, the little liar. :(**

**Today, we've got sort of a filler chapter, and I'm aiming for it to have cotton candy (refer to Dragon's Heart if you don't know what I mean by cotton candy) so let's cross our fingers and hope it works out alright.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. But Natsu can totally have me if he wants ;)**

**Enjoy!~**

**A.~**

_Previously On Warm My Heart_

_"Yeah, right. Whatever, he might like me now but I guarantee that if he caught a glimpse at my arm he'd back track like nobody's business." She gestured to the bandages on her right arm and Gray's expression softened a bit. "But before that even, I'd kick his ass with my fire." She huffed. "Trust me Gray, I took down a demon. I can defend myself just fine without any help." With that she brushed passed him and walked back to the guild._

_Gray sighed and shook his head. He needed to blow off steam, so he went back to the guild and picked a fight with Natsu again._

Now…

The door to the apartment opened just as Gray was pulling his shirt over his head a week later. He and Sera had worked things out after the fight in the alley, and things were back to normal.

"Hey, I'm back!" Sera called. "They didn't have extra buttery, but I got original and a box of popcorn salt." She told him as he emerged from the bedroom.

"Original's fine, we can just add more butter if you want." He offered, taking the bag from her and setting it down before helping her get her coat off.

"Hey, thanks." She smiled. He nodded and picked the bag back up. "And I'm good without drenching it in butter, I like the salt aspect more." She shrugged. "Anyway, I've got the snacks if you'll get the movie set up." She offered.

"I thought you wanted to change into some 'comfy clothes' before the movie?" He reminded her.

"Oh yeah!" She smiled, took off her shoes, and then raced to the bedroom, swinging the door to close it behind her, but it bounced off of the doorframe and swung back open about a third of the way.

Gray passed by on his way to the TV and paused when he saw the open door. He moved over to close it but froze when he glanced inside and saw Sera undressing. For the first time, he saw the extent of the bandages. Starting at her wrist they wrapped up her entire arm, over her shoulder, across her chest and diagonally down her side. They continued over her hip, down to her knee. He suddenly understood why she never wore shorts.

Quickly and quietly he closed the door and rushed over to the entertainment center to pick out a relatively girly movie to watch.

"So, your choices are limited to _Dreaming in The Daisies_, or _Don't You Remember?_ So which one, do you want?" He called when he heard the door creak back open.

"I didn't know you even owned a chick flick, let alone too. Are you in touch with your feminine side?" She joked. He nearly jumped at the closeness of her voice, it was right at his ear. He turned, a retort on the tip of his tongue, but it dies when he realized that with the way she was bent over he had a perfect view down the low cut scoop necked sweater she'd decided on wearing. The bandages were definitely gone and he thought he saw a peek of lace. He turned back around quickly before the sight could cause him some problems.

"Ah-uh…. And ex-girlfriend left them here." He muttered.

"Oh. Well I don't really care much for girl movies. Bleck. Pick whatever you like." She said as she stood up again and went into the kitchen to prepare the snacks.

"You sure?"

"Wouldn't have said anything if I wasn't." She called.

"Is horror okay?" He asked.

"As long as you don't mind me clinging to you throughout the movie, and practically sitting on you. I love horror but it freaks me out so bad." She laughed. Gray smirked, ad grabbed the scariest movie he had. He was being a bit of a masochist, but he wanted her to cling to him. He wanted to hold her. And the thing about her being in his lap didn't sounds so bad either in his opinion. He stuck the movie in the player and went to shut off the lights as Sera came back with two bags of popcorn popping in one hand and a ginormous bowl in the other.

"You do know that I've got a microwave for that, right?" He chuckled. She shrugged and sat down, getting comfortable on the couch and patting the space next to her.

"Well yes, but it's much faster this way. And cheaper, Why waste energy and rack up the electric bill when I can do this for free?" She had a point there, but he still chuckled and shook his head at her. Gray grabbed a throw blanket off of the recliner next to the loveseat where Sera sat and then sat next to her. She set the popcorn—still popping—and the bowl on the space next to her and grabbed Gray's arm to lift it and put it around her shoulders. Then she grabbed the bags again and opened them. Dumping them into the bowl she balled up the bags tightly and clasped them in her hands. When she opened her hands there wasn't anything in them.

"How did you—"

"Hellfire burns so completely that nothing is left behind." She explained.

"Oh…. So, no more garbage runs?" At that Sera laughed and elbowed him lightly in the ribs.

"Shut up and play the movie." She giggled. He chuckled and grabbed the remote. Pressing play, he set it back on the end table and settled further into the loveseat. "Oooo, _The Dead Shall Rise_ I love this one!" She whispered.

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's my favorite horror movie in existence. The graphics are awesome, the zombies look completely real, the plotline—well for starters there actually is one, and it's really good. The lead character is a total badass, and a hottie so that's always a plus." The last comment caught him off guard and he choked on the popcorn he'd been eating. "You okay?" She asked.

"You think the lead character is hot?"

"Yeah, so?"

"You realize the lead character is a chick right?"

"And?" She prompted, raising an eyebrow.

"N-nothing…. I just… Didn't know you swung that way." He shrugged. For a moment Sera was confused, but then it dawned on her and she tried not to laugh as she debated whether or not to have fun with his assumption.

"Oh, you didn't? Well the more you know…" She'd decided to mess with him. "Just be careful if you bring a girl home. If she's pretty, I might get jealous and steal her from you." She purred, and watched as Gray swallowed hard at the imagery of Sera and another girl.

"I-I'll keep that in mind." He said gruffly. Sera laughed. "What?"

"You just look really uncomfortable. I'm just screwing with you, I'm straight." She laughed. Oh he was uncomfortable alright, just not in the way she thought. His pants felt way too tight, but he was glad he hadn't subconsciously taken them off yet.

"But I thought you said—"

"Just because I prefer sausage over eggs, doesn't mean I can't appreciate how yummy the eggs _look_." She pointed out. Gray blinked, and then laughed at her analogy.

"That's a unique way of putting it, but I get your point." He agreed. She blushed a bit and smiled.

"Good, now let's watch the movie." The pinkette said before turning her attention to the tv screen. The ice mage followed suit, and they watched as the epidemic that caused humans to die and reanimate to start taking over.

* * *

><p>As the movie wore on, Gray found himself practically holding the petite girl. The characters were investigating a dark house in the middle of the night. Classic movie mistake. The main female character was volunteering to go down and scope out the basement. Without back up. Another movie mistake.<p>

"No don't do it, Tex!" Sera squeaked, moving even closer to Gray and hiding her face against his neck. She was sitting across his lap and now, with her face tucked against his neck, her warm breath brushing over his skin, he was struggling more than ever to pay attention to the movie. He was also fighting against an erection because the way she was seated on his lap was wonderful torture. He had to find a a way to distract himself before her constantly shifting and jumping caused a noticeable problem.

"So, ehem, I found a mission on the request board today that looked pretty interesting." He said, trying to sound casual.

"Y-yeah? No! Don't go over there! Eeek!" She squeaked, jumping a little as Tex turned a corner and a hand came down on her shoulder. Gray grit his teeth against a moan. He briefly tried to think about something gross—like Makarov in a bikini—and it was working. Until she moved again. Then his attention shifted to her, and the image in his mind was no long Makarov in a bikini but _her_ in a tiny bikini. And suddenly his problem was a whole lot worse. He looked down, and with some horror and annoyance realized that he'd lost his pants at some point during the movie before Sera had migrated from her spot on the loveseat to her spot on his lap.

"Anyways, you said something about a mission or request?" Sera sighed in relief when the hand turned out to be Tex's friend messing with her.

"Um, yeah. People are having avalanches on this island that's supposed to be a tropical paradise. They wanted a mage to help melt the snow and, ideally, stop the avalanches. I was wondering if you'd like to go with me." He offered.

"You know I don't really use magic anymore besides maybe cooking something occasionally. I would be completely useless." She muttered and tensed when a gurgling moan came from the tv.

"I wasn't asking for you to fight or anything if that happens, or even use magic. I just wanted some company that wouldn't destroy the entire island. I also thought you might want to see someplace new." He shrugged.

"A place full of so much snow that avalanches are happening, even though the island is supposed to be tropical….. Sounds like the perfect place for a _Fire_ Demon Slayer." She joked. "But in all seriousness, sure, I'd like that. I'll have to ask Mira for the time off of course—"

"You're a guild member, all you have to say is you're going on a mission." Gray chuckled. "Besides I already talked to Mira, she said it was cool of you were gonna go with me, tons of people are out on missions anyways so the guild is gonna be pretty tame for a while." He shrugged.

"Oh. Alright. Then I'll pack after the movie—No! Don't do that, that's a horrible idea!" She exclaimed, jumping when the male lead dove headfirst into a horde of zombies to save Tex. Gray chuckled and then gulped when she shifted on his lap. He prayed silently that she would leave him at least a little of sanity by the time the movie was over, and he was cursing his masochistic brain for giving him such a stupid idea.

**Well….. Short, but…. Eh. It's fun right!**

**Next up, the mission! REVIEW! Tell me what you thought of this chapter, maybe what you want to see in future chapters, I'm not picky I just wanna hear from you guys!**

**UNTIL NEXT TIME MY LOVELIES!**

**A.~**


	8. The Mission Pt1

**Hello my lovelies! It's wonderful to see your bright faces! I hope you like this chapter. Unfortunately, I have to go back to school this week, so posts will most likely slow to a halt again. :( I apologize, but school has to come first. (I need to graduate, ya know?)**

**Heatfist147 (hope I spelled that right haha) In response to your question as to how I came up with Sera's powers and abilities and why I used a Kitsune as the demon, I don't exactly know. I know I wanted her to have powers opposite of Gray's so naturally it had to be fire, and I wanted her power to be on par with Gray's own. Since you can't exactly make solid working constructs out of fire it couldn't be Maker Magic, and Natsu already has Fire Dragon magic so she couldn't be a Dragon Slayer. And there's already a Fire God Slayer as well. So I figured "Eh, let's do a Demon Slayer!" So once I got down her TYPE of magic I needed to figure out how she was going to learn it. Of course magic is more powerful when it's taught by the actual source of that type of magic instead of using Lacrima or Books to learn it, so I decided she'd learn from an actual demon. Now, was that demon going to be a human? Or was it going to be a mythical type creature? Mythical creatures are more fun because they have a much more raw set of morals and instincts (plus they're mythical so you can add your own little twists to them). So I started looking into types of fire demons and came across a Kitsune. (also I remembered the Ninetales from Pokémon lol!) So I highly recommend that if you do end up going with demon slayer magic that you go through a process similar to the one I used. Figure out the type of magic first, then the origins of where they learned the magic, and finally who taught the magic and what form they've taken on.**

**Hope this answered your questions!**

**Disclaimer: I own diddly.**

**Enjoy!~**

**A.~**

* * *

><p><em>Previously on Warm My Heart<em>

_"Oh. Alright. Then I'll pack after the movie—No! Don't do that, that's a horrible idea!" She exclaimed, jumping when the male lead dove headfirst into a horde of zombies to save Tex. Gray chuckled and then gulped when she shifted on his lap. He prayed silently that she would leave him at least a little of sanity by the time the movie was over, and he was cursing his masochistic brain for giving him such a stupid idea._

Now…

_"All aboard for the port town of Hargeon!"_

Gray and Sera stood up at the conductor's call.

They boarded the train and found their seats easily enough, but the second the train started moving—out of pure reflex reaction—Gray looked over to Sera and lifted his feet off the ground slightly. She giggled briefly and gave him an adorably weird look.

"Oh…. Uh… Sorry. Natsu and Kaia get sick on transportation. Habits and all." He said sheepishly.

"Oh. That's understandable…. I think." She laughed. "Used to them puking on your shoes?"

"Pretty much. So, you don't get motion sickness?"

"No, of course not. What a silly weakness to have." She giggled.

"Right!? That's what I said, but then flame-brain punched me in the face!" Gray exclaimed. Sera laughed but her smile melted into a small frown as she turned her head and looked out the window. "What's wrong?" He asked. She glanced over and shrugged before suddenly finding a great interest in picking at the frayed holes in her distressed jeans.

"I know I've already asked you, or maybe I haven't, I can't remember, but…. Do you not like fire mages?" She wondered. "Or is it just Natsu in general?" The ice mage shifted a little uncomfortably.

"I don't.. I—... Ugh, this is difficult to explain. I like fire mages well enough, and I don't dislike Natsu…." He frowned.

"What do you mean by 'don't dislike'?" She asked. He shrugged in frustration.

"If you ever tell him, I'll deny it and hate you forever, but….. I kind of admire him in a weird way, like a sibling or something. He's real strong and he pushes me to be strong too. I think that's also kind of the reason why he gets on my nerves all the time. His strength just seems so effortless, you'd think he doesn't have a care in the world." He shrugged. Sera smiled softly down at her hands.

"I like your description. But you're wrong about the whole 'no care in the world thing'."

"I know, I know he has issues with Igneel—"

"No, not that. He just cares in general. About everything and everyone. I think that's why he pushes you, because he cares about you as a friend and wants to make sure your strong so he doesn't have to lose you." She theorized. Gray let a small smile slip at the thought, but he snorted a second later.

"Nah, he probably just does it to piss me off." He joked. Sera giggled and he chuckled along with her. "So, what made you ask that question?" He wondered as the laughter died down. She shrugged and frowned a bit again, and he regretted asking because for some reason he hated seeing that expression on her face. He wanted her to be happy and smile always, how cheesy right?

"I dunno. Well, that's a lie, I do know. You just have a lot of mean names that you call him, and it's always related to fire somehow. Flame-brain, Fire Freak, Torch Breath, Smokey The Salamander. I could create a list as long as this train if I wanted with all the names you call him." She laughed. "So I just wondered, it is because he's a fire mage, or is it just because it's him and insulting his brand of magic makes him mad?" She shrugged once more.

"Honestly…." He rubbed the back of his neck for a second, "I don't think it's either reason. It's just a part of our rivalry, we just poke at whatever we can to agitate the other one into a fight, like him calling me a stripper or me making fun of his squinty eyes. Of course I'd never honestly try to hurt him severely or anything, but roughing each other up has gotten so common it's almost routine. Besides, it's not like we only fight each other. We mess with other people too." Boy was there an awful lot of shrugging going on on the train that day…

"Alright then." Sera seemed to accept the answer well enough and then she glanced out the window before gasping and jumping up to kneel on her seat and nearly press her face against the glass. "Oh, what a pretty lake! It's so sparkly and shimmery!" She exclaimed. "And so cute with all the trees behind it, oh it looks so perfect!" Gray tried to stifle a chuckle as he could just imagine her having a tail and it be wagging back and forth with her excitement.

"If you like the lake just wait till we get to the ocean." He smiled. She looked over and her brown eyes sparkled.

"Oh I can't wait! I've never been to the ocean!" She smiled. This time he did chuckle, but she wasn't paying attention. She was looking out the window again, watching the scenery pass by.

O~O~O~O

They boarded the boat in Hargeon and Sera's good mood only seemed to get better as they sailed south, the air began to feel warmer and Gray didn't really like it, but Sera was laying out on the deck of the boat, having the time of her life while she enjoyed the warmth of the sun. And then, when they moved farther south, they finally spotted the island. Sera's jaw dropped when Gray pointed out the speck of white as their destination.

"How? It's so warm!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms wide and tipping her head back to look at the sun filled sky.

"I don't know, that's why they're asking for help." He chuckled.

"Good point I guess." She agreed.

A short time later they docked on the island. No sooner had Gray and Sera gotten off the boat than the captain started barking orders to set sail again back to Hargeon. Sera waved goodbye and then followed Gray through the chilly land to the tribe. Despite the cold, there was no snow on the main part of the island, it was only at the top of the mountain. About fifty feet below it stood the village, on the mountain side. There were watch towers at the entrance to the village and the two mages paused, waiting to be let through the gate.

"Who are you two?" One of the guards in the towers asked.

"We're the mages from Fairy Tail. We answered the request you sent us!" Sera called up to him.

"Show us your guild marks!" The guy demanded. Sera grumbled, complaining about how she had to lift up her shirt when it was so cold, but her complaints stopped when Gray pulled up his shirt to show the Fairy Tail symbol that was on his chest. She bit her lip and looked at him while her hand gripped the hem of her shirt tightly.

"Alright, your turn missy!" The guy demanded of her. She wasn't paying attention, she was mourning the loss of the perfect view of Gray's body. He leaned over and nudged her.

"Sera, you have to show them your guild mark." He reminded her once he got her attention.

"O-oh! Right! Sorry!" She called up before lifting her shirt up on the left side. The navy blue crest was there on her ribs, just under her breast, and Gray gulped, wishing that she'd raised the shirt just a little bit higher.

"Okay! You can come in!" The guard allowed. Sera fixed her shirt and walked into the village with Gray following after her. On the other side of the gate they were greeted by the tribe's leader and Sera bowed respectfully to him. Gray was pulled down into a bow as well by Sera and the chief nodded his head to them.

"Thank you for coming young mages." He greeted. Sera straightened and smiled softly to him.

"It's our pleasure. We promise, we'll do everything we can to help you with your problem." Gray vowed. "Now, if you could tell me the details about these avalanches, it would help greatly." He requested.

"Of course. But first, is there any way you can possibly protect the village?" He asked.

"I can. If you'll let me," Gray gestured to the open area behind the chief, and he nodded, gesturing in return to use the land as he needed.

"While he's working on that, would you tell me what's going on?" Sera asked.

"Well, you're about to see." The chief sighed. He turned and looked up, and Sera did the same. She saw a huge wave of snow begin to tumble down the tall mountain, and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Gray….. Whatever you're making, make it quick!" Sera called. He nodded and got into his stance.

"Ice-Make: Igloo!" A huge igloo encased the entire village and he rushed out of it, Sera and the Chief following him as people gathered outside their houses—within the safety of the igloo—to watch him. "Ice-Make: Walls!" Two huge pointed walls appeared and it was clear that they design was to make it so that the walls of ice would part the avalanche around the village. Sera and the Chief observed it from a safe distance, close to the entrance of the igloo, while Gray inspected his work.

"Ah, here it comes. Right on time."

"On time? They're timed?"

"Yes, every three days, an avalanche hits. It gives it just enough time for the last one to melt almost completely. Then, on the third day, it gets freezing cold again and the avalanche hits." The chief explained. Sera frowned and was going to comment when she stiffened. The snow had hit the walls and they had begun working like Gray had intended them to, making the villagers cheer, but Sera wasn't among the happy people.

"Hey, that should fix it temporarily." Gray smiled as he came over. Then he noticed Sera. "What's wrong?"

"It's not going to hold." She mumbled, watching closely as a small crack formed in the ice. Her eyes widened.

"What?"

"The wall! It's not going to hold! Gray, stay with the villagers, keep them safe!" She snapped before rushing forward. A huge crack appeared in the ice walls, and Gray used up most of the rest of his magic to fortify the igloo that way it would keep everyone safe under even ten tons of pressure, and then he raced after Sera.

The ice shield shattered, and Sera screamed out a warrior cry as heat and fire exploded from her. A huge wall of blue Hellfire rose up in front of the snow, making it turn to steam on contact, and the fire also encased the pinkette. It burned off the bandages covering her arm, the long gashes gouged deep into her skin seeming to pour out more fire. Then, the transformation began. Her image shimmered and Gray could only watch as she went through the change. It happened so quickly, one minute she was a girl immersed in blue flames, and then in the next second she was a nine tailed demon fox. Suddenly she _was _the flames.

The Kitsune before him was terrifyingly large. Ten times the height of the girl she was. Much bigger than what he'd seen when she'd transported Porlyusica to the guild to help deliver Kaia's baby.

The demon snarled, and then her tails began twisting, turning into a swirling fan of fire. They swelled and rolled outward, lashing out at the tumbling snow that was spilling over the top of her fire wall, causing it to melt instantly. Gray was completely impressed with her amount of skill and control over the element she wielded and he wondered why she no longer practiced any major magic.

Suddenly there was a snarl, and the ice mage came back to the present moment where people were still in danger.

Sera put more power into her fire in order to combat the avalanche but she was fighting a losing battle and she knew it. The snow just kept coming, and she was grossly out of shape in terms of magic use. With a fierce snarl she used almost all of her magic energy to create an even bigger wall and she forced it a hundred yards back, the snow with it. Then she turned tail—literally—and sprinted full speed ahead back to Gray with the avalanche chasing her.

She made it just in time, standing over him protectively, she wrapped her tails around them to keep them from being buried seconds before the snow hit. There was an animalistic cry and Gray looked up to the blue belly.

"Sera!?"

"I'm fine! Don't worry about it! Will that igloo hold?"

"Yeah! I used pretty much the rest of my power to reinforce it. It will hold, I promise." He told her.

"Good!" She grunted, and he heard a high pitched whine that sounded much like a dog's. "Gray…. I-I can't hold this form much longer." She warned.

"Can you hold it for just a few more minutes?" Sera whimpered in response.

"I-I can't! Gray, I'm sorry!" With that, she transformed back into a petite girl—now missing most of her clothes as they had burned off in her transformation—and fell on top of him. They grabbed hold of each other as the snow filled in the giant hole, and then swept them away.

They tumbled, whirled, swirled, and rolled down the mountain side with the snow, turning end over end for what felt like hours.

Finally—after what seemed like forever and a day—they came to a stop, both dizzy and disoriented and clinging to the other.

"G-Gray? Are you….. Are you okay?" Sera asked.

"Yeah, a little dizzy and probably gonna have some bruises from some rocks. How about you?"

"N-nothing fatal but…."

"But?" He asked.

"Well, I could be better." She winced and jerked away as the snow around her shifted. She gasped and yelped when it touched her exposed wounds and cringed away from it.

"Sera!?" He tried to pull back to look at her but she was clinging to tightly to him. "What's wrong?" He asked quickly.

"C-cold." She whimpered.

"It's snow, it's gonna be cold." He chuckled.

"Yeah, but it's right on my wounds, and a good comparison to that level of pain is like if _you_ stuck your hand into my hellfire."

"Oh." He winced.

"Yeah. We need to find a way out of here."

"Yeah, I agree, but for now, stop squirming." Her constant squirming was going to cause some problems here soon.

"I'm sorry, but essentially I'm a Fire Demon so I'm no good in snow, "she hissed in pain and wriggled away when it shifted and got too close to her side, "so it's not really comfortable when I'm encased in it."

"I'm sorry, but I can't exactly help that, so don't snap at me." He muttered.

"You're right, I'm sorry." She mumbled. She cringed and then yelped when her body heat caused the snow above or below her—they weren't sure which way was up and which was down—to melt, shift, and wedge right against the gash on her side.

"Ow, ow, ow!" she whimpered, trying to shove it away, but it hurt her arm instead, making her bite her lip as tears came to her eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" She gasped. "We just need to find a way out of here, like, now." She hissed as she tried in vain to shift away from the painful chill.

"Working on it. We need to figure out which way is up so we know which way to dig." He huffed and tried to create some room for them to move. The snow shifted and fell down on Sera's face. She squeaked at the cold and both of them froze. The tension broke though, when Sera began to laugh as she shook the snow away. He chuckled and reached down to wipe away some of the residual wetness as it had begun to melt quickly on contact with her warm skin. "Well, at least we know which way to dig now." He jested. She giggled and shook her head again.

"We don't have to dig. I can melt a path." She said. "It'll be a whole lot faster." With that she moved her arm, ignoring how much it hurt to have the frozen liquid touching her wounds, and pressed her palm against the snow to the side of them.

Heat encased her arm and the claw marks marring her skin seemed to glow a faint blue.

The process of melting the ice went quickly with the amount of heat Sera was using and within minutes they were on the surface of the snow.

"Okay…. Now what?" Gray mumbled as he looked around. "Don't suppose you could use that nose of yours to see if we're close to civilization?" He suggested without looking at her. "Sera?" He wondered when there was no reply. He turned around and found her collapsed in the snow. "Sera!" He exclaimed, kneeling down and lifting her into his his lap. She was cold, even to him—and for her to be _that_ cold….. It was a problem to say the least.

"Gray…. It's real cold….." She slurred.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry." He mumbled. "Just stay awake okay?" He asked when it looked like she was about to pass out or fall asleep.

"But I'm tired…." She mumbled. He frowned, thinking back on his first aid training for the symptoms of Hypothermia. She had the exhaustion, and she wasn't shivering. Her speech was slurred, and she was extremely cold to the touch for a normal standard. It wasn't looking good. He stripped his coat and shirt fast than he ever had before and wrapped them around her her as he talked to her, trying to keep her awake. But for Sera, she felt the slight warmth of his clothes before everything faded away.

* * *

><p><strong>And yes, that is where I'm ending it. I know, I'm a real jerk, huh? MUAHAHAHA THAT JUST MEANS YOU'LL HAVE TO COME BACK FOR MORE!<strong>

**By the way, I actually looked up and researched the signs and symptoms of Hypothermia for this because I wasn't entirely sure what they were. In the beginning the patient may be shivering and this is actually a good sign because it shows that their heat regulation systems are still trying to work, so for her to not be shivering means that her body has already basically given up like "nah man, I tried but it's just too cold bro." And also the slurred speech is another way to tell. As well as shortness or shallowness of breath, a slow pulse, and fumbling/stumbling/loss of coordination.**

**Anywhoodle…**

**UNTIL NEXT TIME MY LOVELIES!~**

**A.~**


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